
Pass 'VS( ^ (n 7^ 
Book H ■'. ^ 



i^u^mmmm^mmm 



AMERICAN 

PUBLIC ADDRESSES 



EDITED BY 

JOSEPH VILLIERS DENNEY 

PROFESSOR IN THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 



SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 
CHICAGO NEW YORK 



/ / 



-^^^ 



Copyright 1910 

BY 

SCOTT, FORESMAX & CO. 



/^^.r.... 



PREFACE. 

American speeches have always been studied en- 
thusiastically by Americans; not primarily because 
of their literary value, but because of their satis- 
fying statement of American ideals. The words of 
Washington, Webster, and Lincoln express the national 
aspiration in ways that are forever memorable. Their 
phrases have passed into maxims and into the daily 
speech of their countrymen. The appeal they make is 
to the historical imagination, and that appeal is in- 
creased when the growth of the ideals presented by these 
men is traced in the earlier words of such patriots as 
Henry, Franklin, and Hamilton. It is further 
strengthened when the opposing ideals as set forth in 
the words of Douglas and Stephens are well understood. 
The re-statement of Americanism, made necessary by 
the outcome of the Civil War, and by the sudden rise 
of industrialism and the new democracy coincidently 
with the enlarged sense of world-responsibility that has 
latterly possessed American thinking, is best found in 
the words of Phillips, Grady, Cockran, and Angell. 
These men have put the dominant thought of the age 
into harmony with the traditional ideals of our republic ; 
and each has done this in the presence of some "new 
occasion" that taught "new duties." This book provides 
a collection of speeches and papers sufficiently extensive 
to indicate the main line of development. 

It happens also that the addresses included in this 

iii 



iv PREFACE 

volume illustrate the typical varieties of public speech, — 
the legislative speech of controversial or expository char- 
acter, the farewell address, the eulogy, the commem- 
orative and the anniversary oration, the debate, the 
inaugural address, the public letter, the literary estimate, 
the after-dinner speech, and the baccalaureate address. 
The material provided in the introduction and in the 
notes will indicate clearly the direction which, in the 
opinion of the editor, the study of these American pub- 
lic addresses should take. 

Columbus, Ohio, January 9, 1910. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface iii 

Introduction : 

Occasions for Speaking vii 

Kinds of Public Address viii 

The Oral Quality 4 

Fashions in Public Address 5 

Methods 7 

The Parts of a Discourse 9 

1. The Introduction 10 

2. The Discussion 14 

Outline of the Bunker Hill Monument Address. . . 16 
Brief of the Argument on Coercion of Delinquent 

States 18 

3. The Conclusion 30 

Summary of the Plan of Study 31 

Text: 

Speech on a Kesolution to Put Virginia Into a State of 

Defence Fatrick Kenry 33 

A Motion for Prayers Benjamin Franklin 37 

A Motion on Salaries Benjamin Franklin 39 

Coercion of Delinquent ^toXQ^. .. Alexander Hamilton.... 44 

Farewell Address George Washington.... 48 

The Character of Washington.. .Daniel Webster 69 

The Bunker Hill Monument .... Daniel Webster 87 

Second Joint Debate Liiicoln and Douglas. . . 113 

V 



yi TABLE OF CONTE^'TS 

PAGE 

Secession Alexander H. Stephetis. 169 

Speech at Independence Hall. . . Ahraham Lincoln 174 

First Inaugural Address Ahrahain Lincoln 176 

Letter to Horace Greeley Abraham Lincoln 189 

Speech at Gettysburg Abraham Lincoln 191 

Second Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln 192 

Last Public Address Abraham Lincoln 195 

Abraham Lincoln " The Spectator " 201 

The Scholar in a Republic Weiidell Phillips 209 

The New South Henry W. Grady 242 

John Marshall W. Bourlcc Cockran. . . . 255 

Patriotism and International 

Brotherhood James B. Angell 278 

Notes and Suggestions 291 



INTEODUCTION. 

OCCASIONS FOR SPEAKING. 

It is often said that oratory is on the decline. The 
occasions are rare, we are told, when there is a real 
demand for it. The newspaper, the magazine, and the 
popular novel have come, usurping the function per- 
formed by the orator of the olden time. When, as in 
our day, many can write and practically all can read, 
why should any speak ? It is doubtless true that oratory 
— in the sense of heightened appeal to the feelings — is 
not so often heard as formerly. It has almost disap- 
peared from legislative halls and has become less fre- 
quent in courts of law and in some other places where it 
once flourished. But in the meantime, in these and a 
thousand other places, public speech of a less preten- 
tious and less ardent sort, — addressed primarily not to 
the feelings, but to the reason, — ^has become almost a 
daily necessity. This increase in the number of situa- 
tions calling for public address is due to the complexity 
of modern life. All of our professions and trades, all 
of our enterprises, — political, religious, philanthropic, 
educational, and social, — even our pleasures and sports, 
are highly organized. Each has its stated meetings, each 
its occasions for the oral communication of ideas and 
feelings. There probably never was a time when these 
occasions were half so numerous as they are today. As 
a result, the art of public speech has become less of a 
profession, less a matter of set rules and formulae, less 

vii 



INTRODUCTION 

the possession of a particular class of people exclusively 
devoted to its cultivation, and more of a staple need of 
the many. A good reason, this, why every educated per- 
son should wish to learn more about it. Carlyle con- 
gratulated the English on the fact that they were a na- 
tion of poor speakers. He thought that the less talking 
there was, the greater would be the amount of useful 
work accomplished. But since some talking is in- 
evitable in order that work may be directed into 
channels that are worth while, it seems a strange 
reason for pride in any nation, or in any indi- 
vidual, that the thing is done poorly. Carlyle's 
friend, Emerson, had a better word for his countrymen, 
when he wrote that "if there ever was a country where 
eloquence was a power, it is in the United States. Here 
is room for every degree of it, on every one of its ascend- 
ing stages, — that of useful speech in our commercial, 
manufacturing, railroad, and educational conventions; 
that of political advice and persuasion on the grandest 
theatre, reaching, as all good men trust, into a vast fu- 
ture, and so compelling the best thought and noblest 
administrative ability that the citizen can offer. And 
here are the services of science, the demands of art, 
and the lessons of religion, to be brought home to the 
instant practice of thirty millions of people. Is it not 
worth the ambition of every generous youth to train 
and arm his mind with all the resources of knowledge, 
of method, of grace, and of character, to serve such a 
constituency ?" 

KINDS OF PUBLIC ADDRESS. 

In the quotation just given, Emerson suggests a 
classification of speeches. The principle of his classifi- 
cation is the relative importance of their subject-matter. 



INTEODUCTION 1 

His first division includes utterances of immediate prac- 
tical utility, utterances that deal with affairs and that 
deal with affairs mainly on the matter-of-fact basis; 
beginning with commerce, but rising successively to the 
larger interests involved in manufacturing, in the rail- 
road problem, in education. His second division in- 
cludes those utterances that touch our political interests. 
It is higher than the first because here we have to deal 
not merely with matters of fact, but with matters of 
national sentiment and aspiration ; consequently there is 
here offered a broader field for the element of advice and 
persuasion. His third division includes those utter- 
ances that deal with man's most vital interests, speeches 
of which the end is to render science, art, or religion most 
serviceable, — to make them a part of the life of every 
man. Here the field for the element of persuasion is 
widest. It is clear that Emerson's classification will 
apply equally well to written discourse and that it 
covers the field. It is as specific also as a classification 
of so many species can be made and remain a true 
classification. It would not be difficult to place any 
speech in one of Emerson's three divisions. 

A classification on an entirely different principle was 
made by Aristotle. His principle of classification is 
the attitude of the audience toward the speech. Audi- 
ences, he says, are either judges of things done in the 
past, as are legal judges and juries ; or they are judges of 
things proposed for the future, as are legislative or 
political assemblies; or they are judges of the speech 
itself considered merely as a w^ork of art. Hence 
Aristotle classifies oratory as (1) judicial, or the oratory 
of the bar, the aim of which is the securing or protecting 
of personal rights by convincing and persuading judges 
and juries; (2) deliberative, or the oratory before con- 



2 INTRODUCTION 

ventions, assemblies, legislatures, and public meetings, 
political, religious, commercial, or educational; and (3) 
epideictic, or the oratory of display, now more fre- 
quently called occasional oratory, under which heading 
modern writers who follow Aristotle have put prac- 
tically all secular speaking that is not easily classified 
as judicial or deliberative, — the eulogy, the anniversary 
address, the dedicatory address, the popular lecture, 
the commencement address, the after-dinner speech, 
etc. To all this it is necessary to add (4) 
pulpit oratory, a species that has appeared since 
Aristotle wrote. The mere statement of this classi- 
fication reveals its remoteness from modern life and its 
insufficiency as a classification of the multifarious public 
speaking of our day. The basis of the Aristotelian 
division is the mental attitude of the audience. But 
the psychology of audiences is not so simple a matter 
as this four-fold division assumes it to be. Emerson 
once called attention to the undoubted fact that every 
audience is composed of many audiences; that the 
speaker finds himself addressing now one, now another, 
of these lesser audiences ; that very rarely, if ever, may 
a homogeneous state of mind be presumed in all 
listeners; that the very same listener may be successively 
in several mental attitudes during the same address. 
The principle by which orations are to be classified 
cannot, then, be a principle based solely upon a homo- 
geneous state of mind which probably does not exist. 
It is clear, too, that the state of mind appealed to by 
a deliberative oration may be, perversely enough, that 
which this classification assigns exclusively to judicial 
oratory. Modern pulpit oratory, also, may be, and often 
is, judicial or deliberative in spirit; it may look either 
to the past or to the future. The epideictic was thought 



INTKODUCTION 3 

by the Greeks to be best illustrated in the eulogy and 
the invective; but surely it is not just to regard these 
as forms of display and to judge them solely by artistic 
considerations. Even the modern oratorical contest, 
which is most often accused of being purely epideictic, 
rejects as inadequate this basis of judgment and de- 
mands a judgment based upon the value of the thought 
as well as upon the style and the delivery. In spite of 
all this, the psychological fact on which Aristotle based 
his classification remains true, — that a speaker must con- 
sider his audience and must try to adapt his material to 
what he supposes the mental state of a majority of his 
listeners to be. The ideal standard of speech thus becomes 
not mere self-expression, for self-expression implies no 
thought of the audience; but rather selt-communication, 
which implies a constant effort to carry our ideas over 
to those who listen to us. This ideal standard we owe 
to Aristotle. 

A third classification divides spoken discourse, as 
written discourse is usually " divided, into descriptive, 
narrative, expository, and argumentative. The principle 
of division here is the rhetorical process employed. This 
classification makes no attempt to describe a eulogy, or 
a sermon, or a speech at the bar, or an after-dinner 
speech, or any other kind of speech, as a distinct species 
having a quality of its own that no other species pos- 
sesses. It assumes that the vital characteristic of any 
utterance is not indicated by its popular class label. 
It assumes that eulogies, sermons, and the rest, differ 
so widely in variety and method, that no class character- 
istic that is at once useful and true can be found for 
each of them. But every speech may be examined for 
its rhetorical process, and this examination will show the 
fundamental types of oral discourse. This classification, 



4 INTRODUCTION 

too, is imperfect; for a speech that is descriptive may 
use, as accessory to its purpose, narration, exposition, or 
argument, as it needs ; and so with the others. The truth 
is that we must keep in mind all three of the systems 
of classification when studying any speech, — Emerson's, 
Aristotle's, and that of the rhetoricians, — if we would 
arrive at anything like a complete judgment; for (1) we 
must think of the importance of the subject-matter 
as Emerson thought of it; (2) we must think of the 
speech as an effort at communication with a certain 
audience, as Aristotle thought of it; and (3) we must 
think of the effectiveness of the process employed, as 
the rhetoricians enjoin. 

THE ORAL QUALITY. 

Whatever their classification, most successful speeches 
have one marked characteristic in common. Even when 
reduced to print, they appeal primarily not to the eye 
but to the ear. The attentive reader feels called upon 
in imagination to hear a speech as he reads it. If his 
mind is active he images also the speaker, the audience, 
the occasion; and is impelled to find out as much as 
possible about the feelings that ruled the hearts of men 
when it was delivered. He is ready to make concessions 
to cover the loss which the spoken sentence may suffer 
wlien printed. The last paragraph of Stephens's speech 
on Secession (p. 172) for instance, contains faults 
that were doubtless overlooked by those listeners who 
shared the speaker's feelings. Speech has an excellence 
of its own, entirely apart from its literary quality. More- 
over, in the leisure of reading, we often tr.ke pleasure in 
a certain subtlety and fineness of statement ; we like to 
make our own inferences ; we accept mere hints of what 
we arc expected to think, and we have time to suspend 



INTEODUCTION 5 

reading, if need be, in order to make sure of our ground. 
In spoken discourse, there is no time for this. The 
speaker must move forward to his conclusion by a simple 
plan and a directness of statement that leaves no doubts 
pending. A speech may have all of the literary virtues 
and may yet fail for lack of simplicity of structure and 
the easy intelligibility which comes from direct idiomatic 
statement. Having these latter, together with energy 
and insight into the meaning of the occasion, a speech 
will be effective, though it lack grace, suggestiveness, 
refinement, and even strict grammatical accuracy. We 
prize in a speech certain of the qualities of good con- 
versation, — unpretentiousness, short and pointed phras- 
ing — but not its waywardness; in a speech we look for 
the straight-forward march to partial and complete con- 
clusions. These characteristics of speech, which may 
be called the oral (or, equally well, the aural) quality, 
are forced upon the speaker by the immediate presence 
of his audience. Some writers, too, are keenly conscious, 
while composing, of those whom they are addressing; 
they hear each sentence as they put it on paper. Their 
writing is essentially oral although it may never be 
spoken. Many an open letter or newspaper editorial, 
sometimes even a state paper, has this oral quality. 
Some spoken discourses lack it; they are essays rather 
than speeches, addressed to the eye rather than to 
the ear. 

FASHIONS IN PUBLIC ADDRESS. 

While the notion of addressing a specific audience, 
with its resultant (the cultivation of the oral quality) 
has persisted since the days of Aristotle, and is, indeed, 
the explanation of the present ideal of public speech, — 
effective self-communication, — it is equally true that 



G INTRODUCTION 

fashions have changed in this as in the other arts. The 
essential worth and dignity of the old classical oratory 
cannot be questioned; yet its manner would by many 
be accounted mannerism today. For instance, public 
taste at the present time is somewhat intolerant of any 
but the most indirect and carefully disguised attempts 
at emotional appeal. We want the facts: the facts, we 
think, carry their own appeal; having the facts, we 
think that we know how to feel about them. Hence 
arises the greater share of the intellectual element in 
the speeches of today as compared with those of former 
times; and the more scrupulous regard for accuracy 
of statement. Hence, too, has come about the gradual 
abandonment of certain fashions that were once preva- 
lent, and the adoption of new fashions. It was once 
the fashion, for example, for a young lawyer addressing 
a jury to refer humbly to his youth and inexperience, 
or to eulogize the jury system. It was once the fashion 
for a skillful speaker to apologize for a pretended lack 
of skill. It was once the fashion always to emphasize 
the importance of the subject, even though every one 
appreciated its importance. These things were not 
insincerities ; they were the conventions of the moment ; 
they were expected. It is the fashion today to 
do none of these things, to take much for granted, 
and (whether intrinsically a good fashion or not) to 
get speedily to the essential point to be presented, with 
very little preliminary or introductory matter. The 
fear of delay, the fear of over-formality, which prevails 
among speakers today, while generally wholesome, is 
doubtless the cause of a certain abruptness, nervousness, 
and undue haste, that are often noticeable in contem- 
porary speaking. We have rid ourselves of indirection, 
and of tardiness in taking hold of our theme; but we 



INTEODUCTION 7 

have sacrificed something of ease and grace in the 
process. To be always relentlessly business-like, direct, 
and practical in speech, may itself, at some future time, 
be criticised as a mannerism of the present age. There 
is, however, in modern speeches, a nicer adjustment 
of the time-element to the importance of the message. 
Economy of time has become a paramount considera- 
tion. Speakers today usually know, beforehand, how 
much time they are expected to occupy, and govern 
themselves accordingly. 

METHODS. 

Not only do oratorical fashions change from age to age, 
but at any given moment there are marked differences of 
method. Among the Greeks, for instance, most of the ora- 
tors and teachers insisted upon elevation of thought and 
sentiment, with diction to match, as essential to a good 
speech; but then, as now, there were successful speakers 
who, like Andocides, professed a contempt for the rules 
of rhetoric and for any serious study of the art which 
they themselves practised; who paid little attention to 
arranging their material in an orderly way; who relied 
on a fund of good stories to help them in times of need ; 
and who advised speakers to trust to their native gifts, 
and to the inspiration of the occasion. There were 
some, like Hyperides, who advocated a conversational 
manner, the plainest of plain speech, and a large use of 
colloquialism, in opposition to those who advised the 
cultivation of a more dignified, stately, or highly ornate 
diction. Some studied the art of the public actors 
in order to learn "the outer signs of eloquence" and thus 
cultivated a theatrical manner of speaking; others, dis- 
daining this as shallow trickery, studied the art of being 
artless. There were those, however, who advocated 



8 INTRODUCTION 

the sound principle that tlie cultivation of the "inner 
spirit," — the systematic and prolonged education of the 
mind and heart, the achievement of a strong character, 
— should precede and accompany the study of the "outer 
signs." Many followed ^schines in practising written 
composition assiduously and in studying general litera- 
ture and philosoph}^, as essential elements in the educa- 
tion of a speaker. Demosthenes, the greatest of 
Greek orators, illustrated the value of unremitting 
and purposeful labor. In order to overcome de- 
fects of voice, articulation, breathing, and physical 
manner, he imposed upon himself arduous exer- 
cises through a series of years; he watched the ways 
of the actors and of other professional speakers, and 
imitated them in those points which seemed appropriate 
to his own personality and temperament. He gave seven 
years of his life to practising written composition and 
to studies in history, law, and statesmanship. Believing 
that he could win no lasting success without worthy 
thinking, he endeavored in all of his studies to find out 
what was fundamentally right and not merely what was 
expedient, in order that, throughout his life, he might 
habitually and unconsciously apply the highest test to 
every question that he might be called upon to discuss. 
In thus devoting himself primarily to gaining sound 
knowledge and to developing moral earnestness, while 
steadily learning, through practice and a study of 
models, the approved modes of speech that were suitable 
to himself as an individual, he set for all time the 
example of a sound method of training for effective 
self-communication on any subject of discussion ; a 
method involving first, adequate knowledge of the facts 
to ])e discussed ; secondly, the ability and the disposition 
to apply principles of right and wrong to tlie facts as 



^ 



INTEODUCTION 9 

ascertained; thirdly, attention to the best way of pre- 
senting the matter. The Greek and Latin writers on 
public speaking devoted a great deal of discussion to 
the first and second of these points. Later writers have 
said less about these, devoting their attention almost 
exclusively to the art of presentation ; but always assum- 
ing the preeminent importance of knowledge and sin- 
cerity. 

THE PARTS OF A DISCOURSE. 

The usual division of any discourse is into (1) intro- 
duction (see pp. 10-14), (2) discussion (pp. 14-30), and 
(3) conclusion (pp. 30-31). These terms suggest little 
more than beginning, middle, end. The ancient writers 
enumerated the following as parts of an address : intro- 
duction, the narration or exposition, the proposition, the 
confirmation, the refutation, the conclusion; and some 
added the excursus or digression. This minuter division 
is still useful as indicating certain elements that enter or 
may enter into the make-up of a speech, certain functions 
to be performed, or, for good reason, to be consciously 
left unperformed. In most argumentative discourses, 
for example, a formal narration or exposition of facts as 
a separate part, preliminary to the proposition and the 
confirmation or proof, is unnecessary : yet the element 
of narration or exposition will appear at any stage of 
the discourse as needed. Likewise proof and refutation 
may or may not constitute the main body of a discourse : 
in a discourse that is essentially narrative or ex- 
pository, argument may be ab<^ent altogether, while 
in others there is nothing but argument. The 
proposition, or, if there be no proposition, the subject, 
can hardly be considered a part of discourse, yet its 
enumeration with the parts points clearly to the need 



10 INTRODUCTION 

«f some unifying element in every discourse ; and indeed 
the excursus, or the digression, an element now almost 
universally condemned as lacking all excuse for being, 
was originally offered in answer to the human need of 
relief from too strict an adherence to the logic of the 
subject and as an opportunity for the speaker to un- 
burden his mind on any matter that logic would exclude 
from his discourse. We shall adopt as parts of discourse 
the introduction, the discussion, and the conclusion ; and, 
in the treatment of each, we shall ask what elements may 
properly enter into its make-up. 

1. The Introduction. The work of the introduction is 
to provide all that is needed by way of preliminary infor- 
mation and in order to secure a favorable disposition to- 
wards the ideas that are to follow in tlie discussion. An- 
cient writers, however, restricted the introduction to the 
work of gaining the active good will of the audience. 
They assigned to another part of the discourse the work 
of giving preliminaiy information. The chief function 
of the introduction, they thought, is to overcome hostil- 
ity in the mind of the audience, should hostility exist; to 
win attention, and to create an interest in the subject, 
leaving no hearer in a state of indifference. One of the 
best recommendations of Aristotle may be stated thus: 
the way to gain good will is to show good will. This 
is precisely what we find in the complimentary reference 
of Henry's opening lines (p. 33), in Franklin's second 
sentence (p. 39), and in Grady's second paragraph 
(p. 242). In all of those instances, too, the speaker 
feels that he is encountering those who think differ- 
ently from liimself about the matter under discussion, 
and he establis^hes favorable relations by expressing the 
respect and good will that he feels. But in general, 
good will is made ap])arent in modern speeclies more 



INTEODUCTION H 

often in the tone and spirit of the opening than in 
any direct statement. 

A second method of gaining good will is the appeal, 
direct or indirect, to community of interest, or to class 
or party spirit. The tacit assumption in this appeal 
is that because speaker and audience are of the same 
nationality, church, political party, school, club, social 
class, trade, profession, or other occupation, enjoy the 
same intellectual pursuits, or even the same sports, they 
will be inclined to agree in all matters. Evidences of 
this kind of appeal appear in Eranklin's identification 
of himself with his colleagues (p. 37). He does not 
divide the convention into two parties, the one wishing 
for prayers, the other never thinking of such a thing; 
he does not assume a greater piety than his colleagues 
possess; all have been alike forgetful. He classifies 
himself with his audience. Webster, eulogizing Wash- 
ington, naturally touches the chord of patriotism; and 
at the outset of the Monument Address (p. 87) he voices 
the common feeling as he conceives it. His second 
paragraph (p. 87) is devoted exclusively to the patriotic 
note. Phillips, also, (p. 209) emphasizes class spirit 
when he attributes a distinctive characteristic to Amer- 
ican scholarship. Cockran's first sentence (p. 255) im- 
putes to all of his hearers a common admiration for the 
work of the Constitution-builders. 

While showing good will, however, while seeking to 
identify himself with his audience, the speaker must 
not surrender any of his convictions or any of his self- 
respect. As Aristotle long ago pointed out, a speaker 
commends himself chiefly by his good judgment and 
reasonableness, by his reliance on his own worth and 
the worth of his message. But modern taste forbids him 
to assert his good qualities. A speaker's reasonableness, 



12 INTRODUCTION 

his worth, his virtue, or strength, declare themselves in 
his treatment of his theme. The personal introduction 
in political or other controversy, however, is still com- 
mon, and, indeed, is unavoidable when the speaker has 
been made the object of criticism and thus has himself 
become part of the matter at issue. It occurs frequently 
in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and in the campaign 
speeches of rival candidates for office it is always to be 
expected. It is used with a fine reticence in Washing- 
ton's Farewell Address (p. 48) and with solemn effect- 
iveness in Lincoln's Independence Hall address (p. 174). 
But, excepting instances of obvious necessity, like those 
just named, the personal introduction will not often 
suggest itself in these days as an easy or appropriate 
method of beginning. 

Closely related to the personal introduction, and often 
employed in connection with it, is the introduction based 
upon the importance of the subject. This is illustrated 
in the first paragraph on page 33 ; but it is to be noted 
that Henry used it, ostensibly, as the excuse or reason 
for his abrupt and plain manner of speech. As a gen- 
eral rule in modern addresses the importance of the 
subject is a thing to be assumed rather than directly 
asserted. The importance of the subject is either self- 
evident at the outset or is to be made evident by the 
whole discourse. It should be recognized by the audi- 
ence as a result of the speech, rather tlian declared 
by the speaker at the beginning. 

Probably the easiest and most economical introduc- 
tions are those which are based on some pertinent re- 
mark that has been made by another. An introduction 
of this kind seems to continue a discussion already 
begun in people's minds, and offers a point of departure 
either in harmony with the quoted sentiment or in 



INTKODUCTION 13 

contrast with it. The introduction by anecdote belongs 
to this class. The Grady Speech (p. 242) illustrates 
well both of these varieties of beginning. 

Whatever the subject matter chosen for the introduc- 
tion it must, in order to suit the modern taste, bear 
close relevance to the theme of the discourse. The 
irrelevant introduction advocated by some, practised 
by many, may be attractive in itself, but it arouses 
expectations that are destined not to be fulfilled, and 
its final effect, when it is recalled by a hearer, is to 
diminish the total influence of the speech. Nowhere is 
there greater danger, than in the introduction, of vio- 
lating unity of tone. If the introduction is keyed at 
too high an elevation of thought or feeling or is too 
finely finished, the speaker may later find himself un- 
able to maintain the level on which he started and the 
decline to a lower level is sure to be disappointing. 
Speakers of experience are usually wary of this danger 
and prefer to begin on a level from which it will not be 
difficult to rise as the essential parts of the discourse are 
taken up. The summit of an inclined plane is not a good 
point of departure in any discourse. Among the best 
exemplars of moderation and restraint in introducing 
a discourse, was Wendell Phillips, a fact the more strik- 
ing since moderation and restraint were characteristic 
only of his manner, and not at all of his thinking. 
Those who listened to him for the first time, aware of 
his great fame, might experience some disappointment 
of their high expectations for a little while after he had 
begun to speak; it was all so unassuming, quite on the 
conversational level; but the temporary disappointment 
served only to put them in readiness to rise with the 
speaker to the higher levels of his discourse as he reached 
these. On the other hand, the splendid introductions 



14 INTRODUCTION 

of Webster must have put many of his first hearers in 
fear that no man, however great, could begin on so high 
a plane and maintain himself there for long. 

The usual advice to the inexperienced is to prepare 
the introduction after the body of the discourse has 
been written. The advice is sound if understood as a 
warning against a pretentious, a trite, or a far-fetched 
introduction, or against one that for any reason is out 
of tune with the prevailing note of the discourse. The 
further advice that if an appropriate introduction has 
not suggested itself by the time the body of the dis- 
course is completed, all attempt at introduction should 
be given up, is also sound. Earlier writers on oratory 
provided for this very contingency by naming one of 
their varieties of introduction "the abrupt beginning." 
To this advice may be added the reminder, contained in 
a word of Walter Bagehot's, that excepting in times of 
great excitement an audience begins to listen in a de- 
cidedly "factish" frame of mind. At the outset it pre- 
fers the particular rather than the general, facts rather 
than principles, the specific instance rather than the 
universal truth, the intellectual rather than the emo- 
tional. 

2. The Discussion. The main body of an address m- 
cludes one or more of the following elements: (1) a 
division or partition of the subject, (2) definition, (3) 
narration, description, or exposition, (4) proofs and ref- 
utation. The order in which these tilings appear in an 
address is determined by the nature of the address. 
One or more of them may in many cases be omitted al- 
together. Attention to the first will always be necessary. 

(1) The division or partition of the material is not 
often formally announced in the finished address, as was 
once the custom. When it is so announced it is usually 



INTEODUCTION 15 

accounted a part of the introduction. Yet it is with 
the organization of the body of the discourse that the 
partition is concerned; and, in any event, there must 
be in the preparation of a discussion a division or par- 
tition of the material with a view to orderly presenta- 
tion. Waiving the question whether the partition is 
at the end of the introduction or at the beginning of 
the discussion, we may say that the best division is the 
simplest and most natural, with each part distinct from 
the others, yet with all the parts standing in intelligible 
relationship to one another and to the main idea. In 
spoken more than in written discourse, the plan must 
be perfectly clear, because the hearer has no time to 
think back over the speech in order to consider relation- 
ships of ideas. He is occupied with the passing word. 
One test of a speech is the possibility of reproducing 
its plan in an obviously consecutive outline. In a speech 
that is mainly argumentative like Hamilton's (p. 44) 
such an outline will reveal a debatable proposition fol- 
lowed by arguments supporting it, each in its logical 
place, and each, when necessary, supported by subordi- 
nate arguments. In an address of the expository class, 
like Webster's on The Bunker Hill Monument 
(p. 87) there is no debatable proposition; there is only 
a broad general subject certain aspects of which the 
speaker chooses to explain; there is perhaps only an 
occasion, requiring a voice to express its dominant 
mood. The plan of such a discourse will show the chief 
ideas in their relationship; but will fail to reproduce 
what is most characteristic and valuable in the speech, 
the element of personality, the emotional uplift. It is 
likely, therefore, to be much less satisfactory as a 
graphic representation of the speech, than the brief of 
an argumentative address. A study of the following 



16 INTRODUCTION 

outline of Webster's speech and the brief of Hamilton's 
argument, in connection with the addresses themselves, 
will illustrate all of these points. 



Outline of the Bunker Hill Monument Address. 

introduction. 

1. Impressiveness of the occasion (p. 87, 11. 1-8). 

2. Patriotic memories and hopes peculiar to Americans in- 

spired (p. 87, 1. 9— p. 89, 1. 17). 

I. By the significance to them of the date and place 
(p. 87, 1. 9— p. 88, 1. 7). 
II. By the significance to them of the discovery of 
America (p. 88, 11. 8-23). 
III. By the significance to them of colonial history (p. 

88, 1. 24— p. 89, 1. 8). 

IV. By the significance to them of the Eevolution (p, 

89, 11. 9-17). 

DISCUSSION. 

A. Purposes of the Society in providing for the Monument 

(p. 89, 1. 18— p. 90, 1. 2). 
I. Not that a monument is necessary, but to show 
our appreciation of the deeds of our ancestors, 
to keep alive similar sentiments and to foster 
a regard for the principles of the Revolution 
(p. 90, 11. 3-26). 
II. Not to cherish hostility or the military spirit, 
but to express our sense of the benefits which 
have come through the events commemorated 
(p. 90, 1. 27— p. 91, 1. 29). 

B. Mighty events in America and Europe since the Revolu- 

tion (p. 91, 1. 30— p. 93, 1. 18). 

C. Apostrophe to the survivors of the Revolution (p. 93, 1. 

19— p. 94, 1. 20). 



INTEODUCTION 17 

D. Tribute to the patriotic dead (p. 94, 1. 21 — p. 95, 1. 1), 

especially to Warren (p. 95, 1. 2 — p. 95, 1. 19). 

E. Address to the living survivors (p. 95, 1. 20 — p. 96, 1. 23). 

F. The unity of spirit in the Colonies and the effect of the 

Battle of Bunker Hill, especially upon La Fayette (p. 
96, 1. 24— p. 100, 1. 25). 

G. Eulogy on La Fayette (p. 100, 1. 26— p. 102, 1. 7). 

H. Improvement in the world since the Battle of Bunker 

Hill, especially in politics and government (p. 102, 1. 8). 

1. Diffusion of knowledge and community of ideas; 

with results (p. 102, 1. 23— p. 103, 1. 33). 

IL Difference between the Eevolution in America 

and the French Eevolution (p. 124, 1, 28). 

a. America was accustomed to representative 

government (p. 105, 11. 4-30). 

b. Europe was a stranger to the popular 

principle (p. 105, 1. 31— p. 106, 1. 4). 

c. Europe has, however, gained by the change 

(p. 106, 11. 4-21). 

(1) Everywhere there is a desire for 
popular government (p. 106, 11. 
22-32). 
IIL The influence of world opinion upon arbitrary 
governments (p. 106, 1. 33— p. 107, 1. 19). Thp 
case of Greece (p. 107, 1. 20— p. 108, 1. 33). 
IV. The rise of independent states in South America 
(p. 108, 1. 34— p. 110, 1. 6). 
I. The influence of the example of America (p. 110, 1. 7). 

I. It proves that free government may be safe and 

' just (p. 110, 11. 13-19). 
II. If we fail, free government will perish from the 
earth (p. 110, 1. 20— p. Ill, 1. 2). 
III. Free government may be as permanent as any 
other (p. Ill, 11. 3-13). 

CONCLUSION. 

The duty of America is to preserve what the fathers won 
and to increase the spirit of union. 



18 INTRODUCTION 



Brief of the Argument on Coercion of Delinquent 

States. 

introduction. 

1. My purpose is to discuss certain arguments advanced yes- 

terday (p. 44, 1. 1). 

2. It is inconsistent to assert that the old Confederation 

needs many material amendments and at the same time 
to deny that its defects are the cause of our political 
weakness (p. 44, 1. 10). Instead of trying to amend 
the old Confederation, we should abolish it entirely 
and adopt the new constitution. 

DISCUSSION. 

A. The radical vice of the old Confederation is that the laws 
of the Union apply only to States in their corporate 
capacity (p. 44, 1. 15). For 

I. Each state has the constitutional right to resist 
a law of Congress (p. 45, 1. 1). 
II. The states have used the right of resistance with 
disastrous results (p. 45, 1. 2). For 

a. They have embarrassed the Central Gov- 

ernment by taking different courses. For 

1. A state has executed the requisi- 

tions of Congress only if favora- 
ble to its own interests (p. 45, 1.9). 

2. A state has disregarded the requisi- 

tions of Congress if unfavorable 
to its own interests (p. 45, 1. 10). 

b. They have been remiss in duty even under 

the pressure of a common danger (p. 

45, 1. 12). For 

1. New York has been compelled to 
pay more than its share by the 
delinquency of other states. 



INTRODUCTION 19 

III. The states will not respond to requisitions in time 
of security (p. 45, 1. 28). For 
a. There is no incentive to exertion (p. 45, 
1. 25). For 

1. When danger is distant its impres- 

sion is weak (p. 45, 1. 28). 

2. When danger affects only our neigh- 

bors, we will not provide against 
it (p. 45, 1. 29). 

B, The remedy is to adopt the new constitution enabling the 
national laws to operate on individual states (p. 46, 
1. 27). For 

I. The proposal to coerce delinquent states is 
absurd (p. 45, 1. 33). For 

a. Attempted coercion would result in civil 

war (p. 46, 1. 3). For 

1. It sets states that pay at war with 

states that will not pay (p. 46, 

1.8). 

b. It means either a Federal Standing Army 

to enforce requisitions on delinquent 
states or a central government without 
money (p. 46, 1. 23). For 
1. No state would ever suffer Congress 
to use it as an instrument of 
coercion against another state 
(p. 46, 1. 20). 
II. Tho proposal to take the old Federation as the 
basis of a system is impossible (p. 46, 1. 33). 
For 

a. To entrust the sword and purse without 

restriction to a single chamber would 

establish a despotism (p. 47, 1. 3). For 

1. Unlimited power over taxation and 

a standing army is too great for 

a single chamber to exercise (p. 

47, 1. 15). For 



20 INTRODUCTION 

a. Power needs to be divided 
between two chambers 
that will check one an- 
other, as provided in the 
new Constitution (p. 47, 
1. 17). 

CONCLUSION. 

Adopt the new Constitution (p. 47, 1. 22). 

A comparison of these two plans discloses the greater 
freedom of the expository address. Webster is in com- 
plete control of his material; he divides it as he will, 
for the subject and the occasion do not rigidly prescribe 
what points he shall take up. There is no logical 
proposition to impose requirements upon him in the 
matter of division, subdivision, and proof. To be sure 
we may reduce the whole address to the form of a syl- 
logism if we wish : 

Major Premise. All true patriots who have made sac- 
rifices that their country might furnish to the world 
an illustrious example of freedom, good government and 
prosperit}^, should be gratefully honored by their coun- 
trymen. 

Minor Premise. The heroes of the American Revo- 
lution have made sacrifices that their country might, etc. 

Conclusion. The heroes of the American Revolution 
should be gratefully honored by their countrymen. 

Nothing is gained, however, by applying this strict 
logical test to an address the chief aim of which is not 
to prove a proposition, but to deepen feeling and to 
increase appreciation. To treat it as we treat an argu- 
mentative discourse is to reduce it to a string of plati- 
tudes, and to miss all that gives it distinction. 

It is to be noted, however, that while Webster is free 



INTRODUCTION 21 

to select what topics he wishes, we find no waywardness 
or eccentricity in the selection. The topics are emi- 
nently appropriate to the subject and the occasion; each 
is distinct from the others; each follows the preceding 
topic naturally. As we pass from one to the next we 
are made to feel their relationship. In some cases it 
is a relationship of similarity or contrast ; the apostrophe 
to the survivors (C) suggests the tribute to the patriotic 
dead (D) and this in turn suggests the address to the 
living (E). In other cases it is a relationship of cause 
and effect; the eulogy of LaFayette (G) follows as a 
natural effect of the facts cited just before under (F) ; 
the apostrophe to the survivors (C) is the natural effect 
of the recital of the mighty events referred to under 
(B) ; the improvement in the world (H) is the effect 
of the diffusion of knowledge and community of ideas 
(H-I) ; the difference between the Eevolution in Amer- 
ica and in Europe (H-II) is accounted for by a recital 
of causes (H-II a-b). In still other cases it is a rela- 
tionship neither of similarity and contrast nor of cause 
and effect, but ideas follow one another because they are 
felt to be in contiguity, that is near to one another, 
either near in time, as in the narrative portions, or near 
in thought. The influence of world opinion upon ar- 
bitrary governments (H-III) is near in thought to the 
preceding topic, the desire for popular government 
everywhere; the case of Greece suggests the case of the 
states of South America (IV). Thus it is easy to ac- 
count for the position of each topic in the discussion 
and to find a reason why it is where, we find it. 

We notice also the use of climax in the arrangement 
of the divisions. The first climax is reached at p. 91, 1. 
29 ; the second at p. 96, 1. 23 ; the third at the close of the 
eulogy of LaFayette, p. 102, 1. 7 ; the fourth at p. 108, 



22 INTRODUCTION 

1. 33 ; the last in the conclusion of the speech. The 
general arrangement is in accordance with the usual 
principles of cause and effect, similarity and contrast, 
and contiguity. 

Turning now to the brief of Hamilton's argumenta- 
tive address* we see that the arrangement is necessarily 
by the method of cause and effect. The two divis- 
ions (A and B) read as reasons for the main proposi- 
tions, and every subdivision reads as a reason for the 
division of next higher rank. Every statement in the 
brief is a complete sentence. Accordingly we have 
propositions of one rank supporting propositions of a 
higher rank. The main divisions are simple and nat- 
ural and distinct; first the vice of the old Confedera- 
tion; secondly, the cure proposed for this vice. 
These two divisions are inevitable. No matter who 
should have attempted to argue this question he 
would have been logically compelled by the proposi- 
tion to take up the same two points that Hamilton 
took up, the evil and the remedy. It is true of all 
argumentative discourse that the proposition logically 
demands of the speaker attention to certain essential 
divisions that are implied in the proposition itself. In 
an expository discourse, the speaker makes his own 
theme and rules it throughout; in the argumentative 
discourse the proposition rules the speaker and compels 
him to conform to its logical demands. 

In the argumentative discourse the divisions are the 
chief points at issue and taken together they must 
completely cover the field of dispute. Hence the need 
that they should include attention to all possible pro- 
posals that can reasonably be offered on the subject. We 

• Thp method used In this brief is but one of several good 
methods of brief-drawing. The syllogistic method may be used 
equally well. 



INTEODUCTION 23 

notice in the second division of Hamilton's speech that 
this is the method employed. The logic of it is this : 
there are three and only three remedies offered to cure 
the vice that I have demonstrated in the old Confed- 
eration. The first remedy is to coerce delinquent 
states. The second remedy is to take the old Confedera- 
tion as the basis of a new system. The third is to adopt 
the new constitution that is now before you. But the 
first remedy is absurd and the second is impossible. It 
remains, therefore, to adopt the third. This particular 
method of division is called the method of exclusions; 
it enumerates all proposals and rules out all but the one 
desired. The chief danger in its use lies in an incom- 
plete enumeration; there might possibly be another al- 
ternative that the speaker had not thought of. 

(2) The second element that may enter into the body 
of a discourse is definition. When this term is used 
most people think only of the kind of definition that is 
found in the dictionaries, a single sentence giving the 
meaning of a term in other words that are likely to 
be better understood, a sentence that puts the thing 
to be defined into its proper genus or class and then 
gives its difference from the other members of the 
class. This kind of formal definition is almost always 
necessary in argumentative discourse, especially in de- 
bate. Before a proposition is discussed its terms must 
be understood. 

But the word definition has a much wider meaning. 
It means all those processes of explanation, illustration, 
and example that set the limits of an idea. Phillips's 
entire speech is definitive in this sense; its result is a 
clearer idea of the American scholar. It shows what 
he has been, what he is, and what he should be. Lin- 
coln's letter to Greeley is definitive of Lincoln's policy; 



24 INTRODUCTION 

it sets the limits of that policy and tells both what it 
includes and what it does not include. President 
Angell's address on Patriotism and International Broth- 
erhood affords a striking example of definition in its 
wider sense. The title calls attention to two ideas that 
are often thought to be in opposition, even in irrecon- 
cilable opposition. The discourse sets the limits of 
each idea and reconciles the apparent conflict between 
them. Definition may be incidental and may appear in 
a discourse wherever it is needed, or it may be the 
main object of a discourse and may dictate the method 
of dealing with the whole subject. The general method 
involved in a definitive discourse is the method of in- 
quiry or the inductive method. Beginning with the 
common opinion of the thing to be defined, or with two 
contrasting opinions, the definitive discourse proceeds 
step by step to give precision and accuracy to our 
tlioughts about the matter, to enlarge or restrict them 
as desired, and finally arrives at a satisfactory limita- 
tion of the ideas involved. Whether formally expressed 
as tlie conclusion or not, a definition is the end 
reached by such an address. 

(3) Narration, description, or exposition may 
also enter into a discourse. Each, like the ele- 
ment of definition, may be found on a very re- 
stricted scale, in one place in the discourse, or 
may be scattered through the aiscourse, appearing 
wherever it is needed; and, like the element of defini- 
tion, each ma}' be merely incidental or ma}' dominate the 
wliole discor.r^-o and determin-* its method. Older writ- 
ers conceived of tl'.e narration as a separate and distinct 
part of the discourse, ini mediately following the exor- 
dium, or introduction, and immediately preceding the 
formal statement of the partition or division. They 



INTEODUCTION 25 

thought of it as a preliminary recital of facts or events 
which must be understood before proof and refutation 
could be profitably presented. When the facts or events 
were well known, the narration was to be omitted. The 
narration, when expressed, was to be persuasive; it was 
to foreshadow the ^^roof and prepcre the way for it, but 
was not to pretend to be proof itself. In modern public 
address we find this procedure still common and neces- 
sary in argumentative discourse, especially in debate; 
only here, in most cases, the narration would be more 
accurately called the description or the exposition, for 
it both recites facts and explains them. If the proposi- 
tion refers to the past, some historical narrative will 
be unavoidable, early in the discussion. A present day 
proposition also may require preliminary narration, de- 
scription, and exposition. Thus the proposition, "The 
present British ministry should be sustained in making 
the taxation of land values a part of its 1909 budget," 
would certainly require a preliminary description of 
the economic conditions in England that make new 
sources of revenue necessary, a historical narrative show- 
ing what have been the customary sources of revenue in 
the past, a definition of the term "taxation of land 
values," and an exposition of certain principles of taxa- 
tion. In the words of the older writers on rhetoric and 
oratory, "The present state of the question must he made 
clear hy narrative and exposition/' The second para- 
graph of Webster's Bunker Hill oration performs a 
function analagous to that of the narration in an argu- 
mentative discourse ; but in most expository addresses the 
narration is not concentrated in one part of the discourse. 
In sermons the place of the narration is supplied by 
the scripture reading that precedes. In sermons of the 
traditional type there was usually, in addition to this, 



26 INTRODUCTION 

an explanation of doctrine, definitive in character, just 
before the partition was announced. 

What is a single feature of one address may be the 
entire substance of another: some addresses are essen- 
tially all narration, description, or exposition. The 
eulogy, for example, may be in its fundamental struc- 
ture a narration. Superimposed upon this narration 
there will be a mass of description and exposition, the 
purpose of which is character interpretation. The bio- 
graphical sketch preceding an appreciation of character 
is narration and description combined. If interpreted 
as standing in the relation of cause and effect to 
the work and influence of the life, it precisely 
fulfills the function of the narration in an argumenta- 
tive discourse.* In most expository addresses, however, 
narration, description, definition, and explanation are 
scattered through the discourse. Thus in Webster's 
Bunker Hill address, the narrative is not all given in 
the second paragraph; after the first climax there are 
two pages of narrative (p. 91, 1. 30 — p. 93, 1. 18) that 
furnish the basis of the address to the survivors. On 
p. 96, 1. 24 begins another section of the narration 
covering more than three pages, leading up to the ad- 
dress to LaFayette. Indeed, after every one of Web- 
ster's climaxes the discourse is resumed on the narra- 
tive plane. 

But the chief use of the narrative and descriptive 
parts of an expository address is to furnish the neces- 
sary amplification of the principal ideas of the dis- 
course. Typical means of amplification are necessarily 
resorted to in every expository discourse. One of these 
is repetition of an idea in other words. This is espe- 
cially necessary when the idea is not liked, or is 

*See also p. 299. 



INTRODUCTION 27 

somewhat difficult of apprehension, or, being essential, 
is to be made emphatic. Instances abound in Wash- 
ington's Farewell Address. A case in point is the 
passage on page 56, lines 2 to 18. The idea of respect 
for the Federal Government is repeated in almost 
every sentence; and from line 19 to line 34, on page 56, 
the repetition is made by presenting the contrary of this 
idea, by dwelling upon the things that mean disrespect 
for the government. 

' Another of the means of amplification is enumeration. 
After declaring that every portion of our country has 
motives to guard the Union of the whole, Washington 
enumerates in one paragraph (p. 52, 1. 30) the special 
motives that should act upon the North, the South, the 
East, and the West. A third means of amplification 
is the use of example. Washington refers (p. 55, 11. 9 
to 20) to the treaty with Spain and to that with Eng- 
land as examples of the nation-wide and non-sectional 
policy of the general government. The relative amount 
of amplification devoted to different ideas indicates their 
relative importance. 

(4) A fourth element that may enter into the body 
of an address is proof and refutation. In an argumen- 
tative discourse it is naturally the chief element. But 
it may enter into a discourse of the expository type as 
an ancillary or subsidiary element. Thus in Washing- 
ton's Farewell Address the section on "the baneful 
effects of the spirit of party" (p. 58, 1. 6— p. 59, 1. 23) 
is clearly argumentative. Party spirit should be re- 
pressed in a republic because (a) it means a revengeful 
despotism of the victorious faction over the defeated 
faction, (b) the despotism of factions alternately in 
power leads to intolerable disorders and miseries, (c) 
and these may incline men finally to seek security by 



28 INTRODUCTION 

setting up an individual despot, (d) even though it 
does not go so far as this, it enfeebles the public admin- 
istration, (e) foments insurrection, and (f) opens the 
door to foreign interference. This also illustrates the 
kind of proof called the chain of reasoning from cause 
to effect. 

Another kind of proof is the specific instance. The 
specific instances of disorder, insurrection, govern- 
mental embarrassment, foreign interference sup- 
ported by domestic faction, were too recent to require 
mention : they were matters of common knowledge. 
The appeal to common knowledge or to universal ex- 
experience is often offered in this way as a substitute for 
specific instances. One form of this appeal is the 
proverb and the maxim. 

Instead of, or in addition to, the specific instances 
cited or the common knowledge appealed to, reference 
may be made to the testimony of individuals or to the 
authority of books or of experts. It is usually necessary 
in employing this argument — the argument from au- 
thority — to show that the authority quoted is competent 
to speak to the point in issue, is disinterested and un- 
prejudiced and entirely worthy of confidence. We note 
that Douglas in explaining the mistake with which 
Lincoln had charged him, is careful to attend to these 
matters (p. 139, 11. 10-20). The argument derived 
from what we know of human nature, which Franklin 
employs in the first three pages of his speech (pp. 39- 
41) and which Washington employs repeatedly in the 
Farewell Address, is a common form of the argument 
from cause to effect. 

The order in which arguments shall be arranged must 
Ixi determined anew for every address. Each address 
has its own logic, its own natural order, and the re- 



INTRODUCTION 29 

quirements of coherence are supreme. The advice is 
often given, not to place a weak argument first; but 
there is really no good place for a weak argument; a 
weak argument will not knowingly be used at all if a 
speaker discovers its weakness in time. The subject 
itself, the form of statement which the proposition 
takes, will always suggest some logical order for the ar- 
gument, and this order will in general be the best and 
the most economical. But this order may be modified 
to meet the state of mind of the audience. It is well, 
for instance, to begin with an argument with which 
people are familiar; rather than with one that has 
been developed by research. It is well to begin with 
an argument that can be dealt with briefly, conclusively 
and simply, rather than with one that requires nicety 
of distinction and extended reasoning. It is well to 
close with the argument that the speaker himself values 
most. But all of these suggestions must give way 
in favor of logic and coherence. 

The work of refutation is as important as the work 
of affirmation or direct proof. It consists not merely 
in replying to arguments that have actually been ad- 
vanced, but also in considering unspoken objections that 
naturally suggest themselves. An argument is refuted 
either by disproving the fact on which it is based, or 
by disproving the inference that has been drawn from 
the fact. Lincoln (pp. 114-115) answering the seven 
interrogatories put to him, first denies point-blank the 
fact on which each inference is based; and then (pp. 
116-118) takes up each question a second time, explain- 
ing more fully his position on each and guarding him- 
self against too broad or too narrow an inference from 
his first answers. On page 120, the refutation is a 
denial of the fact. When the fact is admitted to be 



30 INTRODUCTION 

true and the inference drawn from it is true in part, 
and false in part, the refutation is etlected by pointing 
out the distinction as Washington does (p. 59, 11. 9-23) 
in admitting the advantage of party spirit in a mon- 
archy but denying its advantage in a republic. It does 
not follow {non sequitur), he says, that because party 
spirit is useful in Europe, it should be encouraged in 
America. 

In Hamilton's speech (p. 46, 11. 20-25) we have an- 
other device of refutation — the dilemma. Hamilton 
has shown that the states cannot be depended upon to 
coerce one another. Then if delinquent states are to 
be coerced at all, they must be coerced by a Federal 
Army, or the Federal Treasury will be left unsupplied 
with funds. But it would be unsafe to put the army and 
the taxing power under the control of a single chamber 
like that provided for in the Articles of Confederation. 
We must, therefore, adopt the new Constitution which 
provides for two chambers, a Senate and a House, with 
other checks and safeguards. Here one dilemma follows 
another in quick succession. 

In connection with refutation, sometimes as a sub- 
stitute for it, the personal argument and the retort, 
are likely to appear. The Lincoln-Douglas debate sup- 
plies several instances of each (pp. 113, 114, 120, 121, 
123, 127, 129, 130, 137, 140). The destructive work 
of refutation is so closely interwoven with the construc- 
tive work of affirmation that each part of it is natu- 
rally associated with some one of the direct proofs and 
the two should be usually presented together or in close 
sequence. It often happens that the refutation of some 
prejudicial argument that is widely believed, is neces- 
sary at the beginning of the argument. 

3. The Conclusion. One purpose of the conclusion is 



INTKODUCTION 31 

to sum up in brief the whole matter that has been dis- 
cussed. In an argumentative discourse the summary 
will often be bare and formal, recalling in order the 
points argued in the discussion. In an expository dis- 
course the summary will not be made as an exact repeti- 
tion, but will be presented with some variation and ad- 
dition. Thus Phillips (p. 241, 11. 4-11) while summar- 
izing his points, makes a direct call for action; and 
Stephens (pp. 172-173), while summarizing his, makes 
them count as an appeal to patriotism and self-interest. 
Often in an expository address the place of the summary 
is occupied by an enforcement of the theme as a whole, 
or by a heightened treatment of the one chief point 
of the discussion, as in Grady's address (p. 253). An- 
other purpose of the conclusion is to afford opportunity 
for a final appeal to the feelings. Here, if anywhere, 
the audience is prepared to receive such an appeal. The 
conclusion of Lincoln's First Inaugural (pp. 187-188) 
and that of Grady's address (p. 253) are highly per- 
suasive partly on account of the introduction of the 
prophetic element and the element of faith in the su- 
premacy of man's better impulses. An apt quotation 
often does this work most effectively. The conclusion 
should be brief and direct. It should be closely related 
in thought and spirit to the thought and spirit of the 
whole discourse. 

Summary op the Plan of Study. 

The topics discussed in the preceding pages are the 
principal things to consider in the study of a speech. 
First of all, it is profitable to learn something of the 
speaker, the audience, and the occasion for speaking; 
then it is wise to place the speech in its class; next, 
it is well to mark the most conspicuous evidences of the 



32 INTRODUCTION 

oral quality in the speech and the favorite devices of the 
speaker. Finally will come the division of the speech 
into its logical parts and a study of its rhetorical and 
literary methods. In all of this work the student should 
keep in mind the fact that those who made these speeches 
were men with a message, men with a purpose to bring 
things to pass, men whose chief interest was in ideas 
rather than forms of expression, in thought rather than 
style. The chief prerequisite, therefore, to an apprecia- 
tion of their work is a mastery of their ideas and their 
principles. 



SPEECH ON A EESOLUTION TO PUT VIRGINIA 
INTO A STATE OF DEFENCE 

PATRICK HENRY 
Eichmond, Va., March 23, 1775. 

Mr. President — No man thinks more highly than 
I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very 
worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the house. 
But different men often see the same subject in different 
5 lights ; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought dis- 
respectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining, as I do, 
opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall 
speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. 
This is no time for ceremony. The question before the 

10 house is one of awful moment to this country. For my 
own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question 
of freedom or slavery ; and in proportion to the magni- 
tude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the 
debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive 

15 at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we 
hold to God and our country. Should I keep back 
my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving 
offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason 
towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward 

20 the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly 
kings. 

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the 
illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a 
painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till 

33 



34 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise 
men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for lib- 
erty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, 
who, having, eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, 
the things which so nearly concern their temporal salva- s 
tion? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may 
cost, I am willing to know the whole truth ; to know the 
worst, and to provide for it. 

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; 
and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way lo 
of judging of the future but by the past. And judging 
by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the 
conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, 
to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been 
pleased to solace themselves and the house ? Is it that 15 
insidious smile with which our petition has been lately 
received? Trust it not, sir; It will prove a snare to 
your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a 
kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our 
petition comports with those warlike preparations which 20 
cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and 
armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? 
Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be recon- 
ciled, that force must be called in to win back our love ? 
Let us not deceive ourselves, Sir. These are the imple- 25 
ments of war and subjugation ; the last arguments to 
which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means 
this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to 
submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible 
motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this 80 
quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of 
navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are 
meant for us: they can be meant for no other. Tliey 
are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains. 



LIBERTY OR DEATH 35 

which the British ministry have been so ]mg forging. 
And what have we to oppose to them ? Shall we try argu- 
ment? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten 
years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject ? 
5 Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light 
of which it is capable ; but it has been all in vain. Shall 
we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? "What 
terms shall we find, which have not been already 
exhausted ? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive cur- 
io selves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could 
be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. 
We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have 
supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the 
throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the 
15 tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our 
petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have 
produced additional violence and insult; our supplica- 
tions have been disregarded ; and we have been spurned, 
with contempt, from the foot of the throne ! In vain, 
20 after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of 
peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room 
for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve 
inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have 
been so long contending — if we mean not basely to 
25 abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so 
long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves 
never to abandon, until the glorious object of our con- 
test shall be obtained — we must fight ! I repeat it, sir, 
we must fight! An appeal io arms and to the God of 
30 Hosts is all that is left us ! 

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope 
with 60 formidable an adversary. But when shall we 
be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next 
year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and 



36 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

when a British guard shall be stationed in every house ? 
Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? 
Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by 
lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive 
phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound s 
us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make 
a proper use of those means which the God of nature 
hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, 
armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a 
country as that which we possess, are invincible by any lo 
force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, 
sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a 
just God who presides over the destinies of nations, 
and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for 
us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to 15 
the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we 
have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, 
it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is 
no retreat, but in submission and slavery ! Our chains 
are forged ! Their clanking may be heard on the plains 20 
of Boston ! The war is inevitable — and let it come ! I 
repeat it, sir, let it come. 

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen 
may cry. Peace, peace — but there is no peace. The war 
is actually begun ! The next gale, that sweeps from 25 
the north, will bring to our ears the clash of resounding 
arms ! Our brethren are already in the field ! Why 
stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? 
What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so 
sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and M 
slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what 
course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty 
or give me death ! 



A MOTION FOE PRAYEES 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

From Madison's Journal of the Constitutional Convention. 

Mr. President — The small progress we have made 
after four or five weeks close attendance and continual 
reasonings with each other — our different sentiments 
on almost every question, several of the last producing 
5 as many noes as ayes — is, methinks, a melancholy proof 
of the imperfection of the human understanding. We 
indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, 
since we have been running about in search of it. We 
have gone back to ancient history for models of gov- 

10 ernment, and examined the different forms of those 
republics which, having been formed with seeds of 
their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have 
viewed modern states all round Europe, but find none 
of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances. 

15 In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were 
in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to 
distinguish it when presented to us, how has it hap- 
pened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of 
humbly applying to the Father of lights, to illuminate 

20 our understandings ? In the beginning of the contest 
with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, 
we had daily prayer in this room for the divine pro- 
tection. Our prayers. Sir, were heard, and they were 
graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in 

25 the struggle must have observed frequent instances of 
a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind 

37 



38 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting 
in peace on the means of establishing our future 
national felicity. And have we now forgotten that 
powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer 
need his assistance ? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and 5 
the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of 
this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. 
And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his 
notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without 
his aid ? We have been assured. Sir, in the sacred Jo 
writings, that "except the Lord build the house they 
labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and 
I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall 
succeed in this political building no better than the 
builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little 15 
partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; 
and we ourselves shall become a reproach and by-word 
down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may 
hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of 
establishing governments by human wisdom, and leave 20 
it to chance, war and conquest. 

I therefore beg leave to move — that henceforth pray- 
ers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its bless- 
ings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly 
every morning before we proceed to business, and that 25 
one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to 
ofRciate in that service. 



A MOTION ON SALAEIES 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
From Madison's Journal of the Constitutional Convention. 

Doctor Franklin moved, that what related to the compen- 
sation for the services of the Executive be postponed, in order 
to substitute, ** whose necessary expenses shall be defrayed, but 
who shall receive no salary, stipend, fee or reward whatsoever 
for their services," He said, that, being very sensible of the 
effect of age on his memory, he had been unwilling to trust to 
that for the observations which seemed to support his motion, 
and had reduced them to writing, that he might, with the per- 
mission of the Committee, read, instead of speaking, them. 

Sir, it is with reluctance that I rise to express a 
disapprobation of any one article of the plan for which 
we are so much obliged to the honorable gentleman who 
laid it before us. From its first reading I have borne 

5 a good will to it, and in general wished it success. In 
this particular of salaries to the Executive branch, I 
happen to differ: and as my opinion may appear new 
and chimerical, it is only from a persuasion that it is 
right, and from a sense of duty, that I hazard it. The 

10 Committee will judge of my reasons when they have 
heard them, and their judgment may possibly change 
mine. I think I see inconveniences in the appointment 
of salaries; I see none in refusing them, but, on the 
contrary, great advantages. 

15 Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful 
influence on the affairs of men. These are ambition 
and avarice; the love of power, and the love of money. 
Separately, each of these has great force in prompting 

39 



40 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

men to action; but when united in view of the same 
object, they have in many minds the most violent 
effects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of 
honor, tliat shall be at the same time a place of profit, 
and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The 5 
vast number of such places it is that renders the British 
government so tempestuous. The struggles for them 
are the true sources of all those factions, which are per- 
petually dividing the nation, distracting its councils, 
hurrying sometimes into fruitless and mischievous wars, u 
and often compelling a submission to dishonorable 
terms of peace. 

And of what kind are the men that will strive for 
this profitable pre-eminence, through all the bustle of 
cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse 15 
of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters? It 
will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace 
and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will 
be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions 
and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. 20 
These will thrust themselves into your government, and 
be your rulers. And these, too, will be mistaken in the 
expected happiness of their situation : for their van- 
quished competitors, of the same spirit, and from the 
same motives, will perpetually be endeavouring to dis- 25 
tress their administration, thwart their measures, and 
render them odious to the people. 

Besides these evils. Sir, though we may set out in the 
beginning with moderate salaries, we shall find that 
such will not be of long continuance. Reasons will so 
never be wanting for proposed augmentations. And 
there will always be a party for giving more to the 
rulers, that the rulers may be able in return to give 
more to them. Hence, as all history informs us, there 



A MOTION ON SALARIES 41 

has been in every state and kingdom a constant kind 
of warfare between the governing and governed, the 
one striving to obtain more for its support, and the 
other to pay less. And this has alone occasioned great 

5 convulsions, actual civil wars, ending either in de- 
throning of the princes, or enslaving of the people. 
Generally, indeed, the ruling power carries its point, 
the revenues of princes constantly increasing; and we 
see that they are never satisfied, but always in want of 

10 more. The more the people are discontented with the 
oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has 
of money to distribute among his partizans, and pay the 
troops that are to suppress all resistance, and enable 
him to plunder at pleasure. There is scarce a king 

15 in an hundred, who would not, if he could, follow the 
example of Pharaoh, get first all the people's money, 
then all their lands, and then make them and their 
children servants for ever. It will be said, that we 
don't propose to establish kings. I know it; but there 

20 is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly govern- 
ment. It sometimes relieves them from aristocratic 
domination. They had rather have one tyrant than 
five hundred. It gives more of the appearance of 
equality among citizens, and that they like. I am 

25 apprehensive, therefore, perhaps too apprehensive, that 
the government of these States may in future times end_ 
in a monarchy. But this catastrophe I think may be 
delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the 
seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making our 

30 posts of honor, places of profit. If we do, I fear that, 
though we do employ at first a number, and not a 
single person, the number will in time be set aside; 
it will only nourish the foetus of a king, as the honor- 



42 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

able gentleman from Virginia very aptly expressed it, 
and a king will the sooner be set over us. 

It may be imagined by some that this is a Utopian 
idea, and that we can never find men to serve us in the 
Executive department without paying them well for 5 
their services. I conceive this to be a mistake. Some 
existing facts present themselves to me, which incline 
me to a contrary opinion. The high-sheriff of a county 
in England is an honorable office, but it is not a profit- 
able one. It is rather expensive and therefore not 10 
sought for. But yet, it is executed and well executed, 
and usually by some of the principal gentlemen of the 
county. In France, the office of Counsellor, or member 
of their judiciary parliament, is more honorable. It 
is therefore purchased at a high price : there are indeed 15 
fees on the law proceedings, which are divided among 
them, but these fees do not amount to more than three 
per cent on the sum paid for the place. Therefore, as 
legal interest is there at five per cent, they in fact pay 
two per cent for being allowed to do the judiciary busi- 20 
ness of the nation, which is at the same time entirely 
exempt from the burden of paying them any salaries 
for their services. I do not, however, mean to recom- 
mend this as an eligible mode for our Judiciary depart- 
ment. I only bring the instance to show, that the 25 
pleasure of doing good and serving their country, and 
the respect such conduct entitles them to, are sufficient 
motives with some minds to give up a great portion of 
their time to the public, without the mean inducement 
of pecuniary satisfaction. so 

Another instance is that of a respectable society who 
have made the experiment, and practised it with suc- 
cess more than one hundred years. I mean the Quakers. 
It is an established rule with them, that they are not to 



A MOTION ON SALAEIES 43 

go to law; but in their controversies they must apply 
to their monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. Com- 
mittees of these sit with patience to hear the parties, 
and spend much time in composing their differences. 

5 In doing this, they are supported by a sense of duty, 
and the respect paid to usefulness. It is honorable to 
be so employed, but it is never made profitable by sal- 
aries, fees or perquisites. And, indeed, in all cases of 
public service, the less the profit the greater the honor. 

10 To bring the matter nearer home, have we not seen 
the great and most important of our offices, that of 
General of our armies, executed for eight years together 
without the smallest salary, by a patriot whom I will 
not now offend by any other praise; and this, through 

15 fatigues and distresses, in common with the other brave 
men, his military friends and companions, and the con- 
stant anxieties peculiar to his station? And shall we 
doubt finding three or four men in all the United 
States, with public spirit enough to bear sitting in 

20 peaceful council for perhaps an equal term, merely to 
preside over our civil concerns, and see that our laws 
are duly executed? Sir, I have a better opinion of our 
country. I think we shall never be without a sufficient 
number of wise and good men to undertake and execute 

25 well and faithfully the office in question. 

Sir, the saving of the salaries that may at first be 
proposed is not an object with me. The subsequent 
mischiefs of proposing them are what I apprehend. 
And therefore it is, that I move the amendment. If it 

30 is not seconded or accepted, I must be contented with 
the satisfaction of having delivered my opinion frankly 
and done my duty. 



COERCION" OF DELINQUENT STATES 

ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

In the summer of 1788 the New York Convention assem- 
bled at Poughkeepsie to consider the question of the ratifica- 
tion of the Constitution of the United States. Forty-six of 
the sixty-five delegates at first stoutly opposed ratification. 
Hamilton in a series of speeches upheld the Constitution, and 
when the vote was taken a majority of three sustained his 
position. The following is an extract from one of those 
speeches: 

The honorable member who spoke yesterday went into 
an explanation of a variety of circumstances, to prove 
the expediency of a change in our National Government, 
and the necessity of a firm Union. At the same time 
he described the great advantages which this state, in 5 
particular, receives from the Confederacy, and its pecu- 
liar weaknesses when abstracted from the Union. In 
doing this he advanced a variety of arguments which 
deserve serious consideration. 

Sir, it appears to me extraordinary, that while the 10 
gentlemen in one breath acknowledge that the old Con- 
federation requires many material amendments, they 
should in the next deny that its defects have been the 
cause of our political weakness and the consequent 
calamities of our country. We contend that the radical 15 
vice in the old Confederation is that the laws of the 
Union apply only to States in their corporate capacity, 
lias not every man who has been in our Legislature 
experienced the truth of this position? It is insep- 
arable from the disposition of bodies who have a con- 20 

44 



COEKCION OF DELINQUENT STATES 45 

stitutional power of resistance to examine the merits of 
a law. The States have almost uniformly weighed the 
requisitions by their own local interests, and have only 
executed them so far as answered their particular con- 

5 venience or advantage. Hence there have ever been 
thirteen different bodies to judge of the measures of 
Congress, and the operations of Government have been 
distracted by their taking different courses. Those 
which were to be benefited have complied with the requi- 

10 sitions ; others have totally disregarded them. Have 
not all of us been witnesses to the unhappy embarrass- 
ments which resulted from these proceedings? Even 
during the late war, while the pressure of common 
danger connected strongly the bond of our union, and 

15 incited to vigorous exertion, we have felt many dis- 
tressing effects of the impotent system. How have we 
seen this State, though most exposed to the calamities 
of the war, complying in an unexampled manner with 
the federal requisitions, and compelled by the delin- 

20 quency of others to bear most unusual burdens ! Our 
misfortunes in a great degree proceeded from the want 
of vigor in the Continental Government. 

From the delinquency of those States which have 
suffered little by the war, we naturally conclude that 

25 they have made no efforts ; and a knowledge of human 
nature will teach us that their ease and security have 
been a principal cause of their want of exertion. While 
danger is distant its impression is weak, and while it 
affects only our neighbors we have few motives to pro- 

30 vide against it. Sir, if we have national objects to 
pursue we must have national revenues. If you make 
requisitions and they are not complied with what is to 
be done? It has been observed to coerce the States is 
one of the maddest projects that was ever devised. A 



46 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

failure of compliance will never be confined to a single 
State. This being the case can we suppose it wise to 
hazard a civil war? Suppose Massachusetts, or any 
large State, should refuse and Congress should attempt 
to compel them, would they not have influence to pro- 5 
cure assistance, especially from those States which are 
in the same situation as themselves? What picture 
does this idea present to our view ? A complying State 
at war with a non-complying State ; Congress marching 
the troops of one State into the bosom of another ; this 10 
State collecting auxiliaries and forming, perhaps, a 
majority against its federal head. Here is a nation at 
war with itself. Can any reasonable man be well dis- 
posed toward a government which makes war and car- 
nage the only means of supporting itself — a govern- 15 
ment that can exist only by the sword? Every such 
war must involve the innocent with the guilty. This 
single consideration should be sufficient to dispose every 
peaceable citizen against such a government. 

But can we believe that one State will ever suffer 20 
itself to be used as an instrument of coercion? The 
thing is a dream ; it is impossible. Then we are brought 
to this dilemma — either a federal standing army is to 
enforce the requisitions, or the federal treasury is left 
without supplies, and the Government without support. 25 
What, sir, is the cure for this great evil ? Nothing, but 
to enable the national laws to operate on individuals in 
the same manner as those of the States do. This is the 
true reasoning upon the subject, sir. The gentlemen 
appear to acknowledge its force ; and yet, while they so 
yield to the principle, they seem to fear its application 
to the government. 

What, tlien, sliall we do? Shall we take the old Con- 
federation as a basis of a new system? Can this be the 



COERCION OF DELINQUENT STATES 47 

object of the gentlemen ? Certainly not. "Will any man 
who entertains a wish for the safety of his country trust 
the sword and purse with a single assembly organized 
on principles so defective, so rotten ? Though we might 

5 give to such a government certain powers with safety, 
yet to give them the full and unlimited powers of taxa- 
tion and the national forces would be to establish a 
despotism, the definition of which is, a government in 
which all power is concentrated in a single body. To 

10 take the old Confederation and fashion it upon these 
principles would be establishing a power which would 
destroy the liberties of the people. These considera- 
tions show clearly that a government totally different 
must be instituted. They had weight in the convention 

15 who formed the new system. It was seen that the neces- 
sary powers were too great to be trusted to a single 
body; they therefore formed two branches and divided 
the powers that each might be a check upon the other. 
This was the result of their wisdom and I presume every 

20 reasonable man will agree to it. The more this subject 
is explained the more clear and convincing it will appear 
to every member of this body. The fundamental prin- 
ciple of the old Confederation is defective; we must 
totally eradicate and discard this principle before we 

25 can expect an efficient government. 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 

Friends and Fellow Citizens — The period for a 
new election of a citizen, to administer the executive 
government of the United States, being not far dis- 
tant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts 
must be employed in designating th& person who is to 5 
be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me 
proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct 
expression of the public voice, that I should now apprize 
you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being 
considered among the number of those, out of whom a lO 
choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to 
be assured, that this resolution has not been taken 
without a strict regard to all the considerations apper- 
taining to the relation, which binds a dutiful citizen 15 
to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender 
of service, which silence in my situation might imply, 
I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your 
future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for 
your past kindness ; but am supported by a full convic- 20 
tion that the step is compatible with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the 
office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have 
been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion 
of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be 25 
your desire. I constantly hoped, that it would have 

48 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 49 

been much earlier in my power, consistently with mo- 
tives, which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return 
to that retirement, from which I had been reluctantly 
drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, 

5 previous to the last election, had even led to the prepara- 
tion of an address to declare it to you; but mature 
reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of 
our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous 
advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled 

10 me to abandon the idea. 

I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external as 
well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of in- 
clination incompatible with the sentiment of duty, or 
propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may 

15 be retained for my services, that, in the present circum- 
stances of our country, you will not disapprove my 
determination to retire. 

The impressions, with which I first undertook the 
arduous trust, were explained on the proper occasion. 

20 In the discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I 
have, with good intentions, contributed towards the 
organization and administration of the government the 
best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was 
capable. Not unconscious in the outset, of the inferi- 

25 ority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, 
perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strength- 
ened the motives to diffidence of myself, and every day 
the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and 
more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to 

30 me as it will be welcome. Satisfied, that, if any cir- 
cumstances have given peculiar value to my services, 
they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, 
that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the 
political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 



50 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended 
to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings 
do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment 
of that debt of gratitude, which I owe to my beloved 
country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; 5 
still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has 
supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence 
enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by 
services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness 
unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our lO 
country from these services, let it always be remembered 
to your praise, and as an instructive example in our 
annals, that under circumstances in which the pas- 
sions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mis- 
lead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes 15 
of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which 
not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the 
spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was 
the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the 
plans by which they were effected. Profoundly pene- 20 
trated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my 
grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that 
Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its 
beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may 
be perpetual, that the free constitution, which is the 25 
work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained, that 
its administration in every department may be stamped 
with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness 
of the people of these states, under the auspices of lib- 
erty, may be made complete, by so careful a preserva- 30 
tion and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire 
to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, 
the affection, and adoption of every nation, which is 
yet a stranger to it. 



FAKE WELL ADDEESS 51 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for 
your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and 
the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, 
urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to 

5 your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your 
frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result 
of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and 
which appear to me all-important to the permanency of 
your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you 

10 with the more freedom, as you can only see in them 
the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can 
possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. 
Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indul- 
gent reception of my sentiments on a former and not 

15 dissimilar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga- 
ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is 
necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes you one 

20 people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is 
a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, 
the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace 
abroad, of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very 
liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to 

25 foresee, that, from different causes and from different 
quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices em- 
ployed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this 
truth; as this is the point in your political fortress 
against which the batteries of internal and external 

30 enemies will be most constantly and actively (though 
often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite 
moment that you should properly estimate the immense 
value of your national union to your collective and 
individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cordial, 



52 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming 
yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium 
of your political safety and prosperity ; watching for its 
preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing 
whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in 5 
any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning 
upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate 
any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble 
the sacred ties which now link together the various 
parts. 10 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and 
interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common 
country, that country has a right to concentrate your 
affections. The name of American, which belongs to 
you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the 15 
just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation de- 
rived from local discriminations. AVith slight shades of 
difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, 
and political principles. You have in a common cause 
fought and triumphed together ; the independence and 20 
liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and 
joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and suc- 
cesses. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they 
address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly out- 25 
weighed by those which apply more immediately to your 
interest. Here every portion of our country finds the 
most commanding motives for carefully guarding and 
preserving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the so 
South, protected by the equal laws of a common govern- 
ment, finds in the productions of the latter, great addi- 
tional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise 
and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The 



FAEEWELL ADDEESS 53 

South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency 
of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce 
expand. Turning partly into its own channels the 
seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation 
5 invigorated ; and, while it contributes, in different ways, 
to nourish and increase the general mass of the national 
navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a mari- 
time strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The 
East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, 

10 and in the progressive improvement of interior commu- 
nications by land and water, will more and more find, 
a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings 
from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West de- 
rives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and 

15 comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater conse- 
quence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment 
of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the 
weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of 
the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indis- 

20 soluble community of interest as one nation. Any other 
tenure by which the West can hold this essential advan- 
tage, whether derived from its own separate strength, 
or from an apostate and unnatural connexion with any 
foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

25 While, then, every part of our country thus feels an 
immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts 
combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of 
means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, 
proportionably greater security from external danger, a 

30 less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign 
nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must 
derive from union an exemption from those broils and 
wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict 
neighboring countries not tied together by the same 



54 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

governments, which their own rivalships alone would be 
sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alli- 
ances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and 
embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity 
of those overgrown military establishments, which, 5 
under any form of government, are inauspicious to 
liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly 
hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is, that 
your union ought to be considered as a main prop of 
your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to lo 
endear to you the preservation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to 
every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the 
continuance of the Union as a primary object of patri- 
otic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common gov- 15 
ernment can embrace so large a sphere ? Let experience 
solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case 
were criminal. We are authorized to hope, that a proper 
organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of 
governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford 20 
a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a 
fair and full experiment. With such powerful and 
obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our 
country, while experience shall not have demonstrated 
its impracticability, there will always be reason to dis- 25 
trust the patriotism of those, who in any quarter may 
endeavor to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our 
Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any 
ground should have been furnished for characterizing 30 
parties by geographical discriminations. Northern and 
Southern, Atlantic and Western: whence designing men 
may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real dif- 
ference of local interests and views. One of the expe- 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 55 

dients of party to acquire influence, within particular 
districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of 
other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much 
against the jealousies and heart-burnings, which spring 
5 from these misrepresentations ; they tend to render alien 
to each other those, who ought to be bound together by 
fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western 
country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; 
they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and 

10 in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the 
treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at 
that event, throughout the United States, a decisive 
proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated 
among them of a policy in the General Government and 

15 in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in 
regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to 
the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, 
and that with Spain, which secure to them every thing 
they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, 

20 towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be 
their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advan- 
tages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will 
they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such 
there are, who would sever them from their brethren 

25 and connect them with aliens? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a 
Government for the whole is indispensable. No alli- 
ances, however strict, between the parts can be an ade- 
quate substitute; they must inevitably experience the 

30 infractions and interruptions, which all alliances in all 
times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous 
truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the 
adoption of a Constitution of Government better calcu- 
lated than your former for an intimate Union, and for 



56 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

the efficacious management of your common concerns. 
Tliis Government, the offspring of our own choice, unin- 
fluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation 
and mature deliberation, completely free in its princi- 
ples, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security 5 
with energy, and containing within itself a provision 
for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confi- 
dence and your support. Eespect for its authority, com- 
pliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are 
duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true 10 
Liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right 
of the people to make and to alter their constitutions 
of government. But the constitution which at any time 
exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of 
the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The 15 
very idea of the power and the right of the people to 
establish Government presupposes the duty of every indi- 
vidual to obey the establislied Government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all com- 
binations and associations, under whatever plausible 20 
character, with the real design to direct, control, coun- 
teract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of 
the constituted authorities, are destructive of this funda- 
mental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to 
organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordi- 25 
nary force ; to put, in the place of the delegated will of 
the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful 
and enterprising minority of the community; and, 
according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, 
to make the public administration the mirror of the ill- so 
concerted and incongruous projects of faction, ratlier 
than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans 
digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual 
interests. 



FAEEWELL ADDKESS 57 

However combinations or associations of the above 
description may now and then answer popular ends, they 
are likely, in the course of time and things, to become 
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and un- 
5 principled men will be enabled to subvert the power of 
the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
government; destroying afterwards the very engines 
which have lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your government, and 

10 the permanency of your present happy state, it is requi- 
site, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular 
oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that 
you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its 
principles, however specious the pretexts. One method 

15 of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitu- 
tion, alterations, which will impair the energy of the 
system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly 
overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be 
invited, remember that time and habit are at least as 

20 necessary to fix the true character of governments, as 
of other human institutions; that experience is the 
surest standard, by which to test the real tendency of 
the existing constitution of a country; that facility in 
changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, 

25 exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety 
of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, 
that, for the efficient management of your common in- 
terests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government 
of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect 

30 security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will 
find in such a government, with powers properly dis- 
tributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, 
little else than a name, where the government is too 
feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine 



58 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

each member of the society within the limits prescribed 
by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and 
tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties 
in the state, with particular reference to the founding 5 
of them on geographical discriminations. Let me 
now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in 
the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of 
the spirit of party, generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our 10 
nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the 
human mind. It exists under different shapes in all 
governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or re- 
pressed ; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in 
its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. 15 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party 
dissension, which in different ages and countries has 
perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a fright- 
ful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal 20 
and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, 
which result, gradually incline the minds of men to 
seek security and repose in the absolute power of an 
individual; and sooner or later the chief of some pre- 
vailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his 25 
competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of 
his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this 
kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out 
of sight) , the common and continual mischiefs of the 30 
spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and 
duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and 
enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 59 

community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms ; 
kindles the animosity of one part against another, 
foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens 
the door to foreign influence and corruption, which 
5 find a facilitated access to the government itself through 
the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the 
will of one country are subjected to the policy and will 
of another. 

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries 

10 are useful checks upon the administration of the govern- 
ment, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This 
within certain limits is probably true; and in govern- 
ments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with 
indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. 

15 But in those of the popular character, in governments 
purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From 
their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be 
enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, 
there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought 

20 to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage 
it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform 
vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, in- 
stead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking 

25 in a free country should inspire caution, in those in- 
trusted with its administration, to confine themselves 
within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding 
in the exercise of the powers of one department to 
encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment 

30 tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments 
in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of govern- 
ment, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of 
power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates 
in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the 



60 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks 
in the exercise of political power, by dividing and dis- 
tributing it into different depositories, and constituting 
each the guardian of the public weal against invasions 
by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient 5 
and modern; some of them in our country and under 
our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary 
as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, 
the distribution or modification of the constitutional 
powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected 10 
by an amendment in the way which the constitution 
designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; 
for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument 
of good, it is the customary weapon by which free gov- 
ernments are destroyed. The precedent must always 15 
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or 
transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to 
political prosperity, religion and morality are indis- 
pensable supports. In vain would that man claim the 23 
tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these 
great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of 
the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, 
equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish 
them. A volume could not trace all their connexions 25 
with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked. 
Where is the security for property, for reputation, for 
life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, 
which are the instruments of investigation in courts of 
justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposi- so 
tion, that morality can be maintained without religion. 
Wliatever may be conceded to the influence of refined 
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and 
experience both forbid us to expect, that national 



FAREWELL ADDRESS 61 

morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 
It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a 
necessary spring of popular government. The rule, in- 
deed, extends with more or less force to every species 

5 of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, 
can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the 
foundation of the fabric? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, 
institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In 

10 proportion as the structure of a government gives force 
to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion 
should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and. security, 
cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, 

15 to use it as sparingly as possible ; avoiding occasions of 
expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that 
timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently 
prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoid- 
ing likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shun- 

20 ning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in 
time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable 
wars may have occasioned not ungenerously throwing 
upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to 
bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your 

25 representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion 
should co-operate. To facilitate to them the perform- 
ance of their duty, it is essential that you should prac- 
tically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts 
there must be revenue ; that to have revenue there must 

30 be taxes ; that no taxes can be devised which are not 
more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the 
intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection 
of the proper objects (which is always a choice of diffi- 
culties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid con- 



62 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

struction of the conduct of the government in making 
it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for 
obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at 
any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; 5 
cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and 
morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good 
policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of 
a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great 
nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too 10 
novel example of a people always guided by an exalted 
justice and benevolence. Who can doubt, that in the 
course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan 
would richly repay any temporary advantages, which 
might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be 15 
that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity 
of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, 
is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles 
human nature. Alas ! is it rendered impossible by its 
vices ? 20 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essen- 
tial, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against 
particular nations, and passionate attachments for 
others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, 
just and amicable feelings towards all should be culti- 25 
vated. The nation, which indulges towards another an 
habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some 
degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its 
affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray 
from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation 30 
against another disposes each more readily to offer insult 
and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, 
and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or 
trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent col- 



FAEEWELL ADDKESS 63 

lisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The 
nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes 
impels to war the Government, contrary to the best cal- 
culations of policy. The Government sometimes partici- 
5 pates in the national propensity, and adopts through 
passion what reason would reject; at other times, it 
makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects 
of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other 
sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, some- 
10 times perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. 
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation 
for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for 
the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imag- 
inary common interest in cases where no real common 
15 interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of 
the other, betrays the former into a participation in the 
quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate in- 
ducement or justification. It leads also to concessions 
to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, 
20 which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the 
concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought 
to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, 
and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom 
equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambi- 
25 tious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote them- 
selves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacri- 
fice the interests of their own country, without odium, 
sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the ap- 
pearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commend- 
so able deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for 
public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambi- 
tion, corruption or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, 
such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly 



64 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

enlightened and independent patriot. How many op- 
portunities do they afford to tamper with domestic fac- 
tions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public 
opinion, to influence or awe the public councils ! Such 
an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and 5 
powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite 
of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I 
conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy 
of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since his- 10 
tory and experience prove that foreign influence is one 
of the most baneful foes of republican government. But 
that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it 
becomes the instrument of the very influence to be 
avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive par- 15 
tiality for one- foreign nation, and excessive dislike of 
another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger 
only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the 
arts of influence on the other. Eeal patriots who may 
resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become 20 
suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp 
the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender 
their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to 25 
have with them as little political connexion as possible. 
So far as we have already formed engagements, let them 
be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us 
have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must so 
be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of 
which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, 
therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, 
by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her 



FAKEWELL ADDKESS 65 

politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of 
her friendships or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 
us to pursue a different course. If we remain one peo- 

5 pie, under an efficient government, the period is not far 
off when we may defy material injury from external an- 
noyance; when we may take such an attitude as will 
cause the neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon, 
to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, 

10 under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, 
will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when 
we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by 
justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? 

15 Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, 
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of 
Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils 
of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or 
caprice ? 

20 It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alli- 
ances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I 
mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not 
be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to 
existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less appli- 

25 cable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is 
always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those 
engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, 
in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise 
to extend them. 

30 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable 
establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we 
may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraor- 
dinary emergencies. 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, a^Te 



66 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

recommended by policy, humanit}-, and interest. But 
even our commercial policy should hold an equal and 
impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive 
favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of 
things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the 5 
streams of commerce, but forcing nothing ; establishing, 
with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable 
course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to 
enable the government to support them, conventional 
rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances lo 
and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and 
liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as 
experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly 
keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look 
for disinterested favors from another ; that it must pay 15 
with a portion of its independence for whatever it may 
accept under that character ; that, by such acceptance, it 
may place itself in the condition of having given equival- 
ents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached 
with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no 20 
greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors 
from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experi- 
ence must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of 
an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will 25 
make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; 
that they will control the usual current of the passions, 
or prevent our nation from running the course, which 
has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I 
may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of 80 
some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they 
may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party 
spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, 
*^ «. pard against the impostures of pretended patriot- 



FAEEWELL ADDKESS 67 

ism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solici- 
tude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated. 
How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have 
been guided by the principles which have been de- 

5 lineated, the public records and other evidences of my 
conduct must witness to you and to the world. To my- 
self, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have 
at least believed myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my 

10 proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index of 
my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by 
that of your Eepresentatives in both Houses of Congress, 
the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, 
uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me 

15 from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best 
lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our coun- 
try, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right 
to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a 

20 neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far 
as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with modera- 
tion, perseverance and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold 
this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to de- 

25 tail. I will only observe, that, according to my under- 
standing of the matter, that right, so far from being 
denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtu- 
ally admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be in- 

30 ferred, without any thing more, from the obligation 

which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in 

cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the 

relations of peace and amity towards other nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that con- 



68 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDKESSES 

duct will best be referred to your own reflections and 
experience. With me a predominant motive has been 
to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and 
mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress with- 
out interruption to that degree of strength and consist- 5 
ency, which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, 
the command of its own fortunes. 

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administra- 
tion, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am never- 
theless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable 10 
that I may have committed many errors. Whatever 
they may be I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert 
or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall 
also carry with me the hope, that my country will never 
cease to view them with indulgence ; and that, after 15 
forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with 
an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will 
be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the 
mansions of rest. 

Eelying on its kindness in this as in other things, and 20 
actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so 
natural to a man, who views in it the native soil of him- 
self and his progenitors for several generations ; I antici- 
pate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I 
promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoy- 25 
ment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, 
the benign influence of good laws under a free govern- 
ment, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the 
happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, 
and dangers. w 

George Washington. 

United States, September 17th, 1796. 



THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 

DANIEL WEBSTER 

A speech delivered at a public dinner in the City of Wash- 
ington, February 22, 1832, the centennial anniversary of Wash- 
ington's birth. 

We are met to testify our regard for him whose name 
is intimately blended with whatever belongs most essen- 
tially to the prosperity, the liberty, the free institutions, 
and the renown of our country. That name was of 
5 power to rally a nation, in the hour of thick-thronging 
public disasters and calamities; that name shone, amid 
the storm of war, a beacon light, to cheer and guide the 
country's friends; it flamed, too, like a meteor, to repel 
her foes. That name, in the days of peace, was a load- 
10 stone, attracting to itself a whole people's confidence, a 
whole people's love, and the whole world's respect. That 
name, descending with all time, spreading over the 
whole earth, and uttered in all the languages belonging 
to the tribes and races of men, will forever be pro- 
is nounced with affectionate gratitude by every one in 
whose breast there shall arise an aspiration for human 
rights and liuman liberty. 

We perform this grateful duty. Gentlemen, at the ex- 
piration of a hundred years from his birth, near the 
20 place, so cherished and beloved by him, where his dust 
now reposes, and in the capital which bears his own 
immortal name. 

All experience evinces that human sentiments are 
strongly influenced by associations. The recurrence of 

69 



70 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

anniversaries, or of longer periods of time, naturally 
freshens the recollection, and deepens the impression, of 
events with which they are historically connected. Re- 
nowned places, also, have a power to awaken feeling, 
which all acknowledge. Xo American can pass hy the 5 
fields of Bunker Hill, Monmouth, and Camden, as if 
they were ordinary spots on the earth's surface. Who- 
ever visits them feels the sentiment of love of country 
kindling anew, as if the spirit that belonged to the trans- 
actions which have rendered these places distinguished lo 
still hovered round, with power to move and excite all 
who in future time may approach them. 

But neither of these sources of emotion equals the 
power with which great moral examples affect the mind. 
When sublime virtues cease to be abstractions, when 15 
they become embodied in human character, and exempli- 
fied in human conduct, we should b<3 false to our own 
nature if we did not indulge in the spontaneous effu- 
sions of our gratitude and our admiration. A true 
lover of the virtue of patriotism delights to contemplate 20 
its purest models ; and that love of country may be well 
suspected which affects to soar so high into the regions 
of sentiment as to be lost and absorbed in the abstract 
feeling, and becomes too elevated or too refined to glow 
with fervor in the commendation or the love of individ- 25 
ual benefactors. All this is unnatural. It is as if one 
should be so enthusiastic a lover of poetry as to care 
nothing for Homer or Milton; so passionately attached 
to eloquence as to be indifferent to Tully and Chat- 
ham ; or such a devotee to the arts, in such an ecstasy 30 
with the elements of beauty, proportion, and expression, 
as to regard the masterpieces of Raphael and Michael 
Angelo with coldness or contempt. We may be assured, 
Gentlemen, that he who really loves the thing itself, 



CHAEACTEE OF WASHINGTON 71 

loves its finest exhibitions. A true friend of his coun- 
try loves her friends and benefactors, and thinks it no 
degradation to commend and commemorate them. The 
voluntary outpouring of the public feeling, made to-day, 

5 from the north to the south, and from the east to the 
west, proves this sentiment to be both just and natural. 
In the cities and in the villages, in the public temples 
and in the family circles, among all ages and sexes, 
gladdened voices to-day bespeak grateful hearts and a 

10 freshened recollection of the virtues of the Father of his 
Country. And it will be so, in all time to come, so 
long as public virtue is itself an object of regard. The 
ingenuous youth of America will hold up to themselves 
the bright model of Washington's example, and study 

15 to be what they behold ; they will contemplate his char- 
acter till all its virtues spread out and display them- 
selves to their delighted vision; as the earliest astrono- 
mers, the shepherds on the plains of Babylon, gazed at 
the stars till they saw them form into clusters and con- 

20 stellations, overpowering at length the eyes of the 
beholders with the united blaze of a thousand lights. 

Gentlemen, we are at a point of a century from the 
birth of Washington; and what a century it has been! 
During its course, the human mind has seemed to pro- 

25 ceed with a sort of geometric velocity, accomplishing for 
human intelligence and human freedom more than had 
been done in fives or tens of centuries preceding. Wash- 
ington stands at the commencement of a new era, as 
well as at the head of the New World. A century from 

30 the birth of Washington has changed the world. The 
country of Washington has been the theatre on which a 
great part of that change has been wrought, and Wash- 
ington himself a principal agent by which it has been 



72 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDEES3ES 

accomplished. His age and his country are equally full 
of wonders ; and of both he is the chief. 

If the poetical prediction, uttered a few years before 
his birth, be true ; if indeed it be designed by Providence 
that the grandest exhibition of human character and 5 
human affairs shall be made on this theatre of the West- 
ern world ; if it be true that, 

"The four first acts already past; 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day; 
Time's noblest offspring is the last"; lo 

how could this imposing, swelling, final scene be appro- 
priately opened, how could its intense interest be ade- 
quately sustained, but by the introduction of just such a 
character as our Washington? 

Washington had attained his manhood when that 15 
spark of liberty was struck out in his own country 
which has since kindled into a flame and shot its beams 
over the earth. In the flow of a century from his birth, 
the world has changed in science, in arts, in the extent 
of commerce, in the improvement of navigation, and in 20 
all that relates to the civilization of man. But it is 
the spirit of human freedom, the new elevation of 
individual man, in his moral, social, and political char- 
acter, leading the whole long train of other improve- 
ments, which has most remarkably distinguished the era. 25 
Society, in this century, has not made its progress, like 
Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of ingenuity in 
trifles; it has not merely lashed itself to an increased 
speed round the old circles of thought and action ; but it 
has assumed a new character ; it has raised itself from 30 
beneath governments to a participation in governments; 
it has mixed moral and political objects with the daily 
pursuits of individual men; and, with a freedom and 



CHAEACTER OF WASHINGTON 73 

strength before altogether unknown, it has applied to 
these objects the whole power of the human understand- 
ing. It has been the era, in short, when the social prin- 
ciple has triumphed over the feudal principle; when 

5 society has maintained its rights against military power, 
and established, on foundations never hereafter to be 
shaken, its competency to govern itself. 

It was the extraordinary fortune of Washington, that, 
having been intrusted, in revolutionary times, with the 

10 supreme military command, and having fulfilled that 
trust with equal renown for wisdom and for valor, he 
should be placed at the head of the first government in 
which an attempt was to be made on a large scale to 
rear the fabric of social order on the basis of a written 

15 constitution and of a pure representative principle. A 
government was to be established, without a throne, 
without an aristocracy, without castes, orders, or privi- 
leges; and this government, instead of being a democ- 
racy existing and acting within the walls of a single 

20 city, was to be extended over a vast country of different 
climates, interests, and habits, and of various commun- 
ions of our common Christian faith. The experiment 
certainly was entirely new. A popular government of 
this extent, it was evident, could be framed only by 

25 carrying into full effect the principle of representation 
or of delegated power ; and the world was to see whether 
society could, by the strength of this principle, maintain 
its own peace and good government, carry forward its 
own great interests, and conduct itself to political re- 

30 nown and glory. By the benignity of Providence, this 
experiment, so full of interest to us and to our posterity 
forever, so full of interest, indeed, to the world in its 
present generation and in all its generations to come, 
was suffered to commence under the guidance of Wash- 



74 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSE3 

ington. Destined for this high career, he was fitted for 
it by wisdom, by virtue, by patriotism, by discretion, by 
whatever can inspire confidence in man toward man. 
In entering on the untried scenes, early disappointment 
and the premature extinction of all hope of success 5 
would have been certain, had it not been that there did 
exist throughout the country, in a most extraordinary 
degree, an unwavering trust in him who stood at the 
helm. 

I remarked. Gentlemen, that the whole world was and lo 
is interested in the result of this experiment. And is it 
not so? Do we deceive ourselves, or is it true that at 
this moment the career which this government is run- 
ning is among the most attractive objects to the civilized 
world ? Do we deceive ourselves, or is it true that at 15 
this moment that love of liberty and that understanding 
of its true principles which are flying over the whole 
earth, as on the wings of all the winds, are really and 
truly of American origin? 

At the period of the birth of Washington there existed 20 
in Europe no political liberty in large communities, ex- 
cept in the provinces of Holland, and except that Eng- 
land herself had set a great example, so far as it went, 
by her glorious Revolution of 1688. Everywhere else, 
despotic power was predominant, and the feudal or mili- 25 
tary principle held the mass of mankind in hopeless 
bondage. One-half of Europe was crushed beneath the 
Bourbon sceptre, and no conception of political liberty, 
no hope even of religious toleration, existed among that 
nation which was America's first ally. The king was 30 
the state, the king was the country, the king was all. 
There was one king, with power not derived from his 
people, and too high to be questioned ; and the rest were 
all subjects, with no political right but obedience. All 



CHAEACTEB OF WASHINGTON 75 

above was intangible power, all below quiet subjection. 
A recent occurrence in the French chamber shows us 
how public opinion on these subjects is changed. A 
minister had spoken of the "king's subjects.^^ "There 

5 are no subjects," exclaimed hundreds of voices at once, 
"in a country where the people make the king!" 

Gentlemen, the spirit of human liberty and of free 
government, nurtured and grown into strength and 
beauty in America, has stretched its course into the 

10 midst of the nations. Like an emanation from Heaven, 
it has gone forth, and it will not return void. It must 
change, it is fast changing, the face of the earth. Our 
great, our high duty is to show, in our own example, 
that this spirit is a spirit of health as well as a spirit of 

15 power ; that its benignity is as great as its strength ; 
that its efficiency to secure individual rights, social rela- 
tions, and moral order, is equal to the irresistible force 
with which it prostrates principalities and powers. The 
world, at this moment, is regarding us with a willing, 

20 but something of a fearful admiration. Its deep and 
awful anxiety is to learn whether free States may be 
stable, as well as free; whether popular power may be 
trusted, as well as feared; in short, whether wise, regu- 
lar, and virtuous self-government is a vision for the 

25 contemplation of theorists, or a truth established, illus- 
trated, and brought into practice in the country of 
Washington. 

Gentlemen, for the earth which we inhabit, and the 
whole circle of the sun, for all the unborn races of man- 

30 kind, we seem to hold in our hands, for their weal or 
woe, the fate of this experiment. If we fail, who shall 
venture the repetition? If our example shall prove to 
be one not of encouragement, but of terror, not fit to be 
imitated, but fit only to be shunned, where else shall 



76 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

the world look for free models? If this great Western 
Sun be struck out of the firmament, at what other foun- 
tain shall the lamp of liberty hereafter be lighted? 
What other orb shall emit a ray to glimmer, even, on 
the darkness of the world ? 5 

There is no danger of our overrating or overstating 
the important part which we are now acting in human 
affairs. It should not flatter our personal self-respect, 
but it should reanimate our patriotic virtues, and inspire 
us with a deeper and more solemn sense both of our lo 
privileges and of our duties. We cannot wish better 
for our country, nor for the world, than that the same 
spirit which influenced Washington may influence all 
who succeed him; and that the same blessing from 
above, which attended his efforts, may also attend theirs. 15 

The principles of Washington's administration are 
not left doubtful. They are to be found in the Consti- 
tution itself, in the great measures recommended and 
approved by him, in his speeches to Congress, and in 
that most interesting paper, his Farewell Address to the 20 
people of the United States. The success of the govern- 
ment under his administration is the highest proof of 
the soundness of these principles. And, after an experi- 
ence of thirty-five years, what is there which an enemy 
could condemn ? What is there which either his 25 
friends, or the friends of the country, could wish to have 
been otherwise? I speak, of course, of great measures 
and leading principles. 

In the first place, all his measures were right in their 
intent. He stated the whole basis of his own great so 
character, when he told the country, in the homely 
phrase of the proverb, that honesty is the best policy. 
One of the most striking things ever said of him is, that 
''he changed mankind's ideas of political greatness." 



CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 77 

To commanding talents, and to success, the common ele- 
ments of such greatness, he added a disregard of self, 
a spotlessness of motive, a steady submission to every 
public and private duty, which threw far into the shade 

5 the whole crowd of vulgar great. The object of his 
regard was the whole country. No part of it was 
enough to fill his enlarged patriotism. His love of 
glory, so far as that may be supposed to have influenced 
him at all, spurned everything short of general appro- 

10 bation. It would have been nothing to him that hia 
partisans or his favorites outnumbered, or outvoted, or 
outmanaged, or outclamored, those of other leaders. He 
had no favorites ; he rejected all partisanship ; and, act- 
ing honestly for the universal good, he deserved, what 

15 he has so richly enjoyed, the universal love. 

His principle it was to act right, and to trust the 
people for support; his principle it was not to follow 
the lead of sinister and selfish ends, nor to rely on the 
little arts of party delusion to obtain public sanction for 

20 such a course. Born for his country and for the world, 
he did not give up to party what was meant for man- 
kind. The consequence is, that his fame is as durable 
as his principles, as lasting as truth and virtue them- 
selves. While the hundreds whom party excitement, 

25 and temporary circumstances, and casual combinations, 
have raised into transient notoriety, sink again, like thin 
bubbles, bursting and dissolving into the great ocean, 
Washington's fame is like the rock which bounds that 
ocean, and at whose feet its billows are destined to 

30 break harmlessly forever. 

The maxims upon which Washington conducted our 
foreign relations were few and simple. The first was an 
entire and indisputable impartiality towards foreign 
States, He adhered to this rule of public conduct. 



78 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

against very strong inducements to depart from it, and 
when the popularity of the moment seemed to favor such 
a departure. In the next place, he maintained true 
dignity and unsullied honor in all communications with 
foreign States. It was among the high duties devolved 5 
upon him to introduce our new government into the 
circle of civilized States and powerful nations. Not 
arrogant or assuming, with no unbecoming or super- 
cilious bearing, he yet exacted for it from all others 
entire and punctilious respect. He demanded, and he lo 
obtained at once, a standing of perfect equality for his 
country in the society of nations ; nor was there a prince 
or potentate of his day, whose personal character carried 
with it, into the intercourse of other States, a greater 
degree of respect and veneration. 15 

He regarded other nations only as they stood in politi- 
cal relations to us. With their internal affairs, their 
political parties and dissensions, he scrupulously 
abstained from all interference ; and, on the other hand, 
he repelled with spirit all such interference by others 20 
with us or our concerns. His sternest rebuke, the most 
indignant measure of his whole administration, was 
aimed against such an attempted interference. He felt 
it as an attempt to wound the national honor, and re- 
sented it accordingly. 25 

The reiterated admonitions in his Farewell Address 
show his deep fears that foreign influence would insinu- 
ate itself into our counsels through the channels of 
domestic dissension, and obtain a sympathy with our 
own temporary parties. Against all such dangers he 30 
most earnestly entreats the country to guard itself. He 
appeals to its patriotism, to its self-respect, to its own 
honor, to every consideration connected with its welfare 
and happiness, to resist, at the very beginning, all ten- 



CHAEACTER OF WASHINGTON 79 

dencies towards such connection of foreign interests 
with our own aSairs. With a tone of earnestness no- 
where else found, even in his last affectionate farewell 
advice to his countrymen, he says, ^^Against the insidious 

5 wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me, 
fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to 
be constantly awake; since history and experience prove 
that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of 
republican government." 

10 Lastly, on the subject of foreign relations, Washing- 
ton never forgot that we had interests peculiar to our- 
selves. The primary political concerns of Europe, he 
saw, did not affect us. We had nothing to do with her 
balance of power, her family compacts, or her succes- 

15 sions to thrones. We were placed in a condition favor- 
able to neutrality during European wars, and to the 
enjoyment of all the great advantages of that relation. 
"Why, then," he asks us, "why forego the advantages of 
so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand 

20 upon foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving our des- 
tiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace 
and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival- 
ship, interest, humor, or caprice?" 

Indeed, Gentlemen, Washington's Farewell Address is 

25 full of truths important at all times, and particularly 
deserving consideration at the present. With a sagacity 
which brought the future before him, and made it like 
the present, he saw and pointed out the dangers that 
even at this moment most imminently threaten us. I 

30 hardly know how a greater service of that kind could 
now be done to the community, than by a renewed and 
wide diffusion of that admirable paper, and an earnest 
invitation to every man in the country to reperuse and 
consider it. Its political maxims are invaluable; its 



80 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

exhortations to love of country and to brotherly affec- 
tion among citizens, touching; and the solemnity with 
which it urges the observance of moral duties, and im- 
presses the power of religious obligation, gives to it the 
highest character of truly disinterested, sincere, parental 5 
advice. 

The domestic policy of Washington found its pole- 
star in the avowed objects of the Constitution itself. 
He sought so to administer that Constitution as to form 
a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 10 
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote 
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. 
These were objects interesting, in the highest degree, to 
the whole country, and his policy embraced the whole 
country. 15 

Among his earliest and most important duties was 
the organization of the government itself, the choice of 
his confidential advisers, and the various appointments 
to office. This duty, so important and delicate, when a 
whole government was to be organized, and all its offices 20 
for the first time filled, was yet not difficult to him, for 
he had no sinister ends to accomplish, no clamorous 
partisans to gratify, no pledges to redeem, no object to 
be regarded but simply the public good. It was a plain, 
straightforward matter, a mere honest choice of good 25 
men for the public service. 

His own singleness of purpose, his disinterested patri- 
otism, were evinced by the selection of his first cabinet, 
and by the manner in which he filled the seats of justice, 
and other places of high trust. He sought for men fit 30 
for offices ; not for offices which might suit men. Above 
personal considerations, above local considerations, above 
party considerations, he felt that he could only dis- 
charge the sacred trust which the country had placed in 



CHAEACTEE OF WASHINGTON 81 

his hands, by a diligent inquiry after real merit, and a 
conscientious preference of virtue and talent. The 
whole country was the field of his selection. He ex- 
plored that whole field, looking only for whatever it con- 

5 tained most worthy and distinguished. He was, indeed, 
most successful, and he deserved success for the purity 
of his motives, the liberality of his sentiments, and his 
enlarged and manly policy. 

Washington's administration established the national 

10 credit, made provision for the public debt, and for that 
patriotic army whose interests and welfare were always 
so dear to him; and, by laws wisely framed, and of 
admirable effect, raised the commerce and navigation of 
the country, almost at once, from depression and ruin 

15 to a state of prosperity. Nor were his eyes open to 
these interests alone. He viewed with equal concern its 
agriculture and manufactures, and, so far as they came 
within the regular exercise of the powers of this govern- 
ment, they experienced regard and favor. 

20 It should not be omitted, even in this slight reference 
to the general measures and general principles of the 
first President, that he saw and felt the full value and 
importance of the judicial department of the 'govern- 
ment. An upright and able administration of the laws 

25 he held to be alike indispensable to private happiness 
and public liberty. The temple of justice, in his opin- 
ion, was a sacred place, and he would profane and pollute 
it who should call any to minister in it, not spotless in 
character, not incorruptible in integrity, not competent 

30 by talent and learning, not a fit object of unhesitating 
trust. 

Among other admonitions, Washington has left us, in 
his last communication to his country, an exhortation 
against the excesses of party spirit. A fire not to be 



82 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

quenched, he yet conjures us not to fan and feed the 
flame. Undoubtedly, Gentlemen, it is the greatest dan- 
ger of our system and of our time. Undoubtedly, if 
that system should be overthrown, it will be the work of 
excessive party spirit, acting on the government, which 5 
is dangerous enough, or acting in the government, which 
is a thousand times more dangerous; for government 
then becomes nothing but organized party, and, in the 
strange vicissitudes of human affairs, it may come at 
last, perhaps, to exhibit the singular paradox of govern- lo 
ment itself being in opposition to its own powers, at war 
with the very elements of its own existence. Such cases 
are hopeless. As men may be protected against murder, 
but cannot be guarded against suicide, so government 
may be shielded from the assaults of external foes, but 15 
nothing can save it when it chooses to lay violent hands 
on itself. 

Finally, Gentlemen, there was in the breast of Wash- 
ington one sentiment so deeply felt, so constantly upper- 
most, that no proper occasion escaped without its utter- 20 
ance. From the letter which he signed in behalf of the 
Convention when the Constitution was sent out to the 
people, to the moment when he put his hand to that last 
paper in which he addressed his countrymen, the Union, 
— the Union was the great object of his thoughts. In 25 
that first letter he tells them that to him and his 
brethren of* the Convention, union appears to be the 
greatest interest of every true American; and in that 
last paper he conjures them to regard that unity of gov- 
ernment which constitutes them one people as the very 30 
palladium of their prosperity and safety, and the secur- 
ity of liberty itself. He regarded the union of these 
States less as one of our blessings, than as the great 
treasure-house which contained them all. Here, in his 



CHAKACTEE OF WASHINGTON 83 

judgment, was the great magazine of all our means of 
prosperity ; here, as he thought, and as every true Ameri- 
can still thinks, are deposited all our animating pros- 
pects, all our solid hopes for future greatness. He has 

5 taught us to maintain this union, not by seeking to 
enlarge the powers of the government, on the one hand, 
nor by surrendering them, on the other; but by an 
administration of them at once firm and moderate, pur- 
suing objects truly national, and carried on in a spirit 

10 of justice and equity. 

The extreme solicitude for the preservation of the 
Union, at all times manifested by him, shows not only 
the opinion he entertained of its importance, but his 
clear perception of those causes which were likely to 

15 spring up to endanger it, and which, if once they should 
overthrow the present system, would leave little hope of 
any future beneficial reunion. Of all the presumptions 
indulged by presumptuous man, that is one of the rash- 
est which looks for repeated and favorable opportuni- 

20 ties for the deliberate establishment of a united govern- 
ment over distinct and widely extended communities. 
Such a thing has happened once in human affairs, and 
but once ; the event stands out as a prominent exception 
to all ordinary history; and unless we suppose ourselves 

25 running into an age of miracles, we may not expect its 
repetition. 

Washington, therefore, could regard, and did regard, 
nothing as of paramount political interest but the in- 
tegrity of the Union itself. With a united government, 

30 well administered, he saw that we had nothing to fear ; 
and without it, nothing to hope. The sentiment is just, 
and its momentous truth should solemnly impress the 
whole country. If we might regard our country as per- 
sonated in the spirit of Washington, if we might con- 



84 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

sider him as representing her, in her past renown, her 
present prosperity, and her future career, and as in that 
character demanding of us all to account for our con- 
duct, as political men or as private citizens, how should 
he answer him who has ventured to talk of disunion and 5 
dismemberment? Or how should he answer him who 
dwells perpetually on local interests, and fans every 
kindling flame of local prejudice? How should he 
answer him who would array State against State, inter- 
est against interest, and party against party, careless of 10 
the continuance of that unity of government which con- 
stitutes us one people ? 

The political prosperity which this country has at- 
tained, and which it now enjoys, has been acquired 
mainly through the instrumentality of the present gov- 15 
ernment. While this agent continues, the capacity of 
attaining to still higher degrees of prosperity exists also. 
We have, while this lasts, a political life capable of 
beneficial exertion, with power to resist or overcome 
misfortunes, to sustain us against the ordinary accidents 20 
of human affairs, and to promote, by active efforts, every 
public interest. But dismemberment strikes at the very 
being which preserves these faculties. It would lay its 
rude and ruthless hand on this great agent itself. It 
would sweep away, not only what we possess, but all 25 
power of regaining lost, or acquiring new possessions. 
It would leave the country not only bereft of its pros- 
perity and happiness, but without limbs, or organs, or 
faculties, by which to exert itself hereafter in the pur- 
suit of that prosperity and happiness. so 

Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects over- 
come. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce 
from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it 
exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it; 



CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON 85 

if it desolate and lay waste our fields, still, under a new 
cultivation, they will grow green again, and ripen to 
future harvests. It were but a trifle even if the walls 
of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillai^s 

5 should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered 
by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. 
But who shall reconstruct the fabric of demolished gov- 
ernment? Who shall rear again the well-proportioned 
columns of constitutional liberty? Who shall frame 

10 together the skilful architecture which unites national 
sovereignty with State rights, individual security, and 
public prosperity? No, if these columns fall, they will 
be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and the Par- 
thenon, they will be destined to a mournful, a melan- 

15 choly immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow 
over them than were ever shed over the monuments of 
Eoman or Grecian art; for they will be the remnants of 
a more glorious edifice than Greece or Eome ever saw, 
the edifice of constitutional American liberty. 

20 But let us hope for betters things. Let us trust in 
that gracious Being who had hitherto held our country 
as in the hollow of his hand. Let us trust to the virtue 
and the intelligence of the people, and to the efficacy 
of religious obligation. Let us trust to the influence of 

25 Washington's example. Let us hope that that fear of 
Heaven which expels all other fear, and that regard to 
duty which transcends all other regard, may influence 
public men and private citizens, and lead our country 
still onward in her happy career. Full of these gratify- 

30 ing anticipations and hopes, let us look forward to the 
end of that century which is now commenced. A hun- 
dred years hence, other disciples of Washington will 
celebrate his birtb, with no less of sincere admiration 
than we now commemorate it. When they shall meet. 



86 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

as we now meet, to do themselves and him that honor, 
BO surely as they shall see the blue summits of his native 
mountains rise in the horizon, so surely as they shall 
behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose 
banks he rests, still flowing on toward the sea, so surely 5 
may they see, as we now see, the flag of the Union float- 
ing on the top of the Capitol; and then, as now, may 
the sun in his course visit no land more free, more 
happy, more lovely, than this our own country ! 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 

DANIEL WEBSTER 

An address delivered at the laying of the corner-stone at 
Charlestown, Massachusetts, June 17, 1825. 

This uncounted multitude before me and around me 
proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. These 
thousands of human faces, glowing with sympathy and 
joy, and from the impulses of a common gratitude 

5 turned reverently to heaven in this spacious temple of 
the firmament, proclaim that the day, the place, and the 
purpose of our assembling have made a deep impression 
on our hearts. 

If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit 

10 to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress 
the emotions which agitate us here. We are among the 
sepulchres of our fathers. We are on ground distin- 
guished by their valor, their constancy, and the shed- 
ding of their blood. We are here, not to fix an uncer- 

15 tain date in our annals, nor to draw into notice an 
obscure and unknown spot. If our humble purpose had 
never been conceived, if we ourselves had never been 
born, the 17th of June, 1775, would have been a day on 
which all subsequent history would have poured its light, 

20 and the eminence where we stand a point of attraction 
to the eyes of successive generations. But we are Ameri- 
cans. We live in what may be called the early age of 
this great continent; and we know that our posterity, 
through all time, are here to enjoy and suffer the allot- 

25 ments of humanity. We see before us a probable train 

87 



88 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

of great events; we know that our own fortunes have 
been happily cast; and it is natural, therefore, that we 
should be moved by the contemplation of occurrences 
which have guided our destiny before many of us were 
born, and settled the condition in which we should pass 5 
that portion of our existence which God allows to men 
on earth. 

We do not read even of the discovery of this continent, 
without feeling something of a personal interest in the 
event ; without being reminded how much it has affected 10 
our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be 
still more unnatural for us, therefore, than for others, 
to contemplate with unaffected minds that interesting, I 
may say that most touching and pathetic scene, when 
the great discoverer of America stood on the deck of 15 
his shattered bark, the shades of night falling on the 
sea, yet no man sleeping; tossed on the billows of an 
unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate 
hope and despair tossing his own troubled thoughts ; ex- 
tending forward his harassed frame, straining westward 20 
his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted 
him a moment of rapture and ecstasy, in blessing his 
vision with the sight of the unknown world. 

Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our 
fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings 25 
and affections, is the settlement of our own country by 
colonists from England. We cherish every memorial of 
these worthy ancestors; we celebrate their patience and 
fortitude; we admire their daring enterprise; we teach 
our children to venerate their piety; and we are justly so 
proud of being descended from men who have set the 
world an example of founding civil institutions on the 
great and united principles of human freedom and 
human knowledge. To us, their children, the story of 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 89 

their labors and sufferings can never be without its inter- 
est. We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plym- 
outh, while the sea continues to wash it; nor will our 
brethren in another early and ancient colony forget the 

5 place of its first establishment, till their river shall cease 
to flow by it. No vigor of youth, no maturity of man- 
hood, will lead the nation to forget the spots where its 
infancy was cradled and defended. 

But the great event in the history of the continent, 

10 which we are now met here to commemorate, that 
prodigy of modern times, at once the wonder and the 
blessing of the world, is the American Revolution. In 
a day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high 
national honor, distinction, and power, we are brought 

15 together, in this place, by our love of country, by our 
admiration of exalted character, by our gratitude for 
signal services and patriotic devotion. 

The Society whose organ I am was formed for the 
purpose of rearing some honorable and durable monu- 

20 ment to the memory of the early friends of American 
Independence. They have thought that for this object 
no time could be more propitious than the present pros- 
perous and peaceful period, that no place could claim 
preference over this memorable spot, and that no day 

25 could be more auspicious to the undertaking than the 
anniversary of the battle which was here fought. The 
foundation of that monument we have now laid. With 
solemnities suited to the occasion, with prayers to 
Almighty God for his blessing, and in the midst of this 

30 cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. We trust 
it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a broad 
foundation, rising high in massive solidity and un- 
adorned grandeur, it may remain as long as Heaven per- 
mits the works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the 



90 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

events in memory of which it is raised, and of the grati- 
tude of those who have reared it. 

We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious 
actions is most safely deposited in the universal remem- 
brance of mankind. We know that if we could cause 5 
this structure to ascend, not only till it reached the 
skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces could 
still contain but part of that which, in an age of knowl- 
edge, hath already been spread over the earth, and 
which history charges itself with making known to all 10 
future times. We know that no inscription on entabla- 
tures less broad than the earth itself can carry informa- 
tion of the events we commemorate where it has not 
already gone; and that no structure which shall not 
outlive the duration of letters and knowledge among 15 
men can prolong the memorial. But our object is, 
by this edifice, to show our own deep sense of the value 
and importance of the achievements of our ancestors; 
and, by presenting this work of gratitude to the eye, 
to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster a con- 20 
stant regard for the principles of the Eevolution. 
Human beings are composed, not of reason only, but 
of imagination also, and sentiment; and that is neither 
wasted nor misapplied which is appropriated to the 
purpose of giving right direction to sentiments, and 25 
opening proper springs of feeling in the heart. 

Let it not be supposed that our object is to per- 
petuate national hostility, or even to cherish a mere 
military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. We con- 
secrate our work to the spirit of national independence, so 
and we wish that the light of peace may rest upon it 
forever. We rear a memorial of our conviction of that 
unmeasured benefit which has been conferred on our 
own land, and of the happy influences which have been 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 91 

produced, by the same events, on the general interests 
of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot 
which must forever be dear to us and our posterity. 
We wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn 

5 his eye hither, may behold that the place is not undis- 
tinguished where the first great battle of the Revolu- 
tion was fought. We wish that this structure may 
proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event 
to every class and every age. We wish that infancy 

10 may learn the purpose of its erection from maternal 
lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, 
and be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. 
We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud 
in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days 

15 of disaster which, as they come upon all nations, must 
be expected to come upon us also, desponding patriot- 
ism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured 
that the foundations of our national power are 
still strong. We wish that this column, rising towards 

20 heaven among the pointed spires of so many temples 
dedicated to God, may contribute also to produce, in 
all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. 
We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of 
him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden 

25 his who revisits it, may be something which shall re- 
mind him of the liberty and the glory of his country. 
Let it rise ! let it rise, till it meet the sun in his 
coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, 
and parting day linger and play on its summit. 

30 We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so 
various and so important that they might crowd and 
distinguish centuries are, in our times, compressed 
within the compass of a single life. When has it 
happened that history has had so much to record, in 



92 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

the SLme term of years, as since the 17th of June, 
1775 ? Our own revohition, which, under other cir- 
cumstances, might itself have been expected to occa- 
sion a war of half a century, has been achieved; 
twenty-four sovereign and independent States erected ; 5 
and a general government established over them, so 
safe, so wise, so free, so practical, that we might well 
wonder its establishment should have been accom- 
plished so soon, were it not far the greater wonder 
that it should have been established at all. Two or lo 
three millions of people have been augmented to 
twelve, the great forests of the West prostrated be- 
neath the arm of successful industry, and the dwellers 
on the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi become 
the fellow-citizens and neighbors of those who culti- 15 
vate the hills of New England. We have a commerce 
that leaves no sea unexplored; navies which take no 
law from superior force; revenues adequate to all the 
exigencies of government, almost without taxation; 
and peace with all nations, founded on equal rights 20 
and mutual respect. 

Europe, within the same period, has been agitated 
by a mighty revolution, which, while it has been felt 
in the individual condition and happiness of almost 
every man, has shaken to the centre her political fab- 25 
ric, and dashed against one another thrones which 
had stood tranquil for ages. On this, our continent, 
our own example has been followed, and colonies have 
sprung up to be nations. Unaccustomed sounds of 
liberty and free government have reached us from be- 30 
yond the track of the sun; and at this moment the 
dominion of European power in this continent, from 
the place where we stand to the south pole, is annihi- 
lated for ever. 



I 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 93 

In the mean time, both in Europe and America, 
such has been the general progress of knowledge, such 
the improvement in legislation, in commerce, in the 
arts, in letters, and, above all, in liberal ideas and the 

5 general spirit of the age, that the whole world seems 
changed. 

Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint ab- 
stract of the things which have happened since the day 
of the battle of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty years 

10 removed from it; and we now stand here to enjoy all 
the blessings of our own condition, and to look abroad 
on the brightened prospects of the world, while 
we still have among us some of those who were 
active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now 

15 here, from every quarter of New England, to visit 
once more, and under circumstances so affecting, I had 
almost said so overwhelming, this renowned theatre of 
their courage and patriotism. 

Venerable men ! you have come down to us from a 

20 former generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened 
out your lives, that you might behold this joyous day. 
You are now where you stood fifty years ago, this very 
hour, with your brothers, and your neighbors, shoulder 
to shoulder, in the strife for your country. Behold, 

25 how altered ! The same heavens are indeed over your 
heads; the same ocean rolls at your feet; but all else 
how changed ! You hear now no roar of hostile can- 
non, you see no mixed volumes of smoke and flame 
rising from burning Charlestown. The ground strewed 

30 with the dead and dying ; the impetuous charge ; the 
steady and successful repulse; the loud call to repeated 
assault ; the summoning of all that is manly to repeated 
resistance; a thousand bosoms freely and fearlessly 
bared in an instant to whatever of terror there may be 



94 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

in war and death, — all these yon have witnessed, bnt 
you witness them no more. All is peace. The heights 
of yonder metropolis, its towers and roofs, which you 
then saw filled with wives and children and countrymen 
in distress and terror, and looking with unutterable 5 
emotions for the issue of the combat, have presented 
you to-day with the sight of its whole happy population 
come out to welcome and greet you with a universal 
jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of position 
appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, and lo 
seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means of 
annoyance to you, but your country's own means of dis- 
tinction and defence. All is peace ; and God has granted 
you this sight of your country's happiness, ere you 
slumber in the grave. He has allowed you to behold 15 
and to partake the reward of 3^our patriotic toils; and 
he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet 
you here, and in the name of the present generation, in 
the name of your country, in the name of liberty, to 
thank you ! 20 

But, alas ! you are not all here ! Time and the sword 
have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, 
Brooks, Eead, Pomeroy, Bridge ! our eyes seek for you 
in vain amid this broken band. You are gathered to 
your fathers, and live only to your country in her 25 
grateful remembrance and your own bright example. 
But let us not too much grieve that you have met the 
common fate of men. You lived at least long enough 
to know that your work had been nobly and successfully 
accomplished. You lived to see your country's inde- 30 
pendence established, and to sheathe your swords from 
war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise the light 

of Peace, like 

** another morn, 
Risen on mid-noon;" gg 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 95 

and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 
But ah! Him! the iirst great martyr in this great 
cause ! Him ! the premature victim of his own self- 
devoting heart! Him! the head of our civil councils, 

5 and the destined leader of our military bands, whom 
nothing brought hither but the unquenchable fire of 
his own spirit ! Him ! cut off by Providence in the 
hour of overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom; falling 
ere he saw the star of his country rise; pouring out 

10 his generous blood like water, before he knew whether 
it would fertilize a land of freedom or of bondage ! — 
how shall I struggle with the emotions that stifle the 
utterance of thy name ! Our poor work may perish ; 
but thine shall endure ! This monument may moulder 

15 away ; the solid ground it rests upon may sink down 
to a level with the sea ; but thy memory shall not fail ! 
Wheresoever among men a heart shall be found that 
beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, its 
aspirations shall be claimed kindred with thy spirit! 

20 But the scene amidst which we stand does not permit 
us to confine our thoughts or our sympathies to those 
fearless spirits who hazarded or lost their lives on this 
consecrated spot. We have the happiness to rejoice 
here in the presence of a most worthy representation of 
the survivors of the whole Revolutionary army. 

25 Veterans ! you are the remnant of many a well-fought 
field. You bring with you marks of honor from Tren- 
ton and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Camden, Benning- 
ton, and Saratoga. Veterans of half a century! when 
in your youthful days you put everything at hazard in 

30 your country's cause, good as that cause was, and san- 
guine as youth is, still your fondest hopes did not 
stretch onward to an hour like this! At a period to 
which you could not reasonably have expected to arrive, 



96 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

at a moment of national prosperity such as you could 
never have foreseen, you are now met here to enjoy 
the fellowship of old soldiers, and to receive the over- 
flowings of a universal gratitude. 

But your agitated countenances and your heaving 5 
breasts inform me that even this is not an unmixed joy. 
I perceive that a tumult of contending feelings rushes 
upon you. The images of the dead, as well as the per- 
sons of the living, present themselves before you. The 
scene overwhelms you_, and I turn from it. May the 10 
Father of all mercies smile upon your declining years, 
and bless them ! And when you shall here have ex- 
changed your embraces, when you shall once more have 
pressed the hands which have been so often extended to 
give succor in adversit}^ or grasped in the exultation of 15 
victory, then look abroad upon this lovely land which 
your young valor defended, and mark the happiness 
with which it is filled; yea, look abroad upon the whole 
earth, and see what a name you have contributed to 
give to your country, and what praise you have added 20 
to freedom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and grati- 
tude w^hich beam upon your last days from the improved 
condition of mankind ! 

The occasion does not require of me any particular 
account of the battle of the 17th of June, 1TT5, nor 25 
any detailed narrative of the events which immedi- 
ately preceded it. These are familiarly known to all. 
In the progress of the great and interesting contro- 
versy, Massachusetts and the town of Boston had be- 
come early and marked objects of the displeasure of 30 
the British Parliament. This had been manifested 
in the act for altering the government of the Prov- 
ince, and in that for sluitting up the port of Boston. 
Nothing sheds more honor on our early history, and 



THE BUNKEE HILL MONUMENT 97 

nothing better shows how little the feelings and sen- 
timents of the Colonies were known or regarded in 
England, than the impression which these measures 
everywhere produced in America. It had been antic- 

5 ipated, that while the Colonies in general would be 
terrified by the severity of the punishment inflicted 
on Massachusetts, the other seaports would be gov- 
erned by a mere spirit of gain; and that, as Boston 
was now cut ofl from all commerce, the unexpected 

10 advantage which this blow on her was calculated to 
confer on other towns would be greedily enjoyed. 
How miserably such reasoners deceived themselves ! 
How little they knew of the depth, and the strength, 
and the intenseness of that feeling of resistance to 

15 illegal acts of power, which possessed the whole Ameri- 
can people. Everywhere the unworthy boon was 
rejected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was 
seized, everywhere, to show to the whole world that 
the Colonies were swayed by no local interest, no par- 

20 tial interest, no selfish interest. The temptation to 
profit by the punishment of Boston was strongest to 
our neighbors of Salem. Yet Salem was precisely 
the place where this miserable proffer was spurned, 
in a tone of the most lofty self-respect and the most 

25 indignant patriotism. "We are deeply affected,^^ 
said its inhabitants, "with the sense of our public 
calamities; but the miseries that are now rapidly has- 
tening on our brethren in the capital of the Province 
greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting up the 

30 port of Boston some imagine that the course of trade 
might be turned hither and to our benefit; but we 
must be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all feel- 
ings of humanity, could we indulge a thought to seize 
on wealth and raise our fortunes on the ruin of our 



98 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

suffering neighbors.'^ These noble sentiments were 
not confined to our immediate vicinity. In that day 
of general affection and brotherhood, the blow given 
to Boston smote on every patriotic heart from one 
end of the country to the other. Virginia and the 5 
Carolinas, as well as Connecticut and New Hampshire, 
felt and proclaimed the cause to be their own. The 
Continental Congress, then holding its first session in 
Philadelphia, expressed its sympathy for the suffering 
inhabitants of Boston, and addresses were received lo 
from all quarters, assuring them that the cause was a 
common one, and should be met by common efforts 
and common sacrifices. The Congress of Massachu- 
setts responded to these assurances; and in an address 
to the Congress at Philadelphia, bearing the official 15 
signature, perhaps among the last, of the immortal 
Warren, notwithstanding the severity of its suffering 
and the magnitude of the dangers which threatened it, 
it was declared that this Colony "is ready, at all times, 
to spend and to be spent in the cause of America." 20 

But the hour drew nigh which was to put profes- 
sions to the proof, and to determine whether the au- 
thors of these mutual pledges were ready to seal them 
in blood. The tidings of Lexington and Concord had 
no sooner spread, than it was universally felt that the 25 
time was at last come for action. A spirit pervaded 
all ranks, not transient, not boisterous, but deep, sol- 
emn, determined, — 

"Totamque infusa per artus M 

Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. " 

War on their own soil and at their own doors, was, 
indeed, a strange work to the yeomanry of New Eng- 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 99 

land; but their consciences were convinced of its ne- 
cessity, their country called them to it, and they did 
not withhold themselves from the perilous trial. The 
ordinary occupations of life were abandoned; the 

5 plough was stayed in the unfinished furrow; wives 
gave up their husbands, and mothers gave up their 
sons, to the battles of a civil war. Death might come 
in honor, on the field; it might come, in disgrace, on 
the scaffold. For either or for both they were pre- 

10 pared. The sentiment of Quincy was full in their 
hearts. "Blandishments,^^ said that distinguished son 
of genius and patriotism, "will not fascinate us, nor 
will threats of a halter intimidate; for, under God, 
we are determined, that, whatsoever, whensoever, or 

15 howsoever, we shall be called to make our exit, we will 
die free men.^^ 

The 17th of June saw the four New England Colo- 
nies standing here side by side, to triumph or to fall 
together; and there was with them from that moment 

20 to the end of the war, what I hope will remain with 
them for ever, — one cause, one country, one heart. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the 
most important effects beyond its immediate results as 
a military engagement. It created, at once a state of 

25 open, public war. There could now be no longer a 
question of proceeding against individuals, as guilty 
of treason or rebellion. That fearful crisis was past. 
The appeal lay to the sword, and the only question 
was, whether the spirit and the resources of the people 

30 would hold out till the object should be accomplished. 
Nor were its general consequences confined to our own 
country. The previous proceedings of the Colonies, 
their appeals, resolutions, and addresses, had madje 
their cause known to Europe. Without boasting, we 



100 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

may say, that in no age or country has the public 
cause been maintained with more force of argument, 
more power of illustration, or more of that persuasion 
which excited feeling and elevated principle can alone 
bestow, than the Revolutionary state papers exhibit. 5 
These papers will forever deserve to be studied, not 
only for the spirit which they breathe, but for the 
ability with which they were written. 

To this able vindication of their cause, the Colonies 
had now added a practical and severe proof of their lo 
own true devotion to it, and given evidence also of the 
power which they could bring to its support. All now 
saw, that if America fell, she would not fall without a 
struggle. Men felt sympathy and regard, as well as 
surprise, when they beheld these infant states, remote, 15 
unknown, unaided, encounter the power of England, 
and, in the first considerable battle, leave more of their 
enemies dead on the field, in proportion to the number 
of combatants, than had been recently known to fall 
in the wars of Europe. 20 

Information of these events, circulating throughout 
the world, at length reached the ears of one who now 
hears me. He has not forgotten the emotion which 
the fame of Bunker Hill, and the name of Warren, 
excited in his youthful breast. 25 

Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establish- 
ment of great public principles of liberty, and to do 
honor to the distinguished dead. The occasion is too 
severe for eulogy of the living. But, Sir, your inter- 
esting relation to this country, the |X}culiar circum- 80 
stances which surround you and surround us, call on 
me to express the happiness which we derive from your 
presence and aid in tliis solemn commemoration. 

Fortunate, fortunate man ! with what measure of de- 



THE BUNKEE HILL MONUMENT IQI 

votion will you not thank God for the circumstances 
of your extraordinary life ! You are connected with 
both hemispheres and with two generations. Heaven 
saw fit to ordain that the electric spark of liberty 

5 should be conducted, through you, from the New 
World to the Old; and w^e, who are now here to per- 
form this duty of patriotism, have all of us long 
ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherish 
your name and your virtues. You will account it 

10 an instance of your good fortune. Sir, that you crossed 
the seas to visit us at a time which enables you to 
be present at this solemnity. You now behold the 
field, the renown of which reached you in the heart 
of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom 

15 You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by 
the incredible diligence of Prescott; defended, to the 
last extremity, by his 'lion-hearted valor; and within 
which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken 
its position. You see where Warren fell, and where 

20 Parker, Gardner, McCleary, Moore, and other early 
patriots, fell with him. Those who survived that day, 
and whose lives have been prolonged to the present 
hour, are now around you. Some of them you have 
known in the trying scenes of the war. Behold ! they 

25 now stretch forth their feeble arms to embrace you. 
Behold ! they raise their trembling voices to invoke the 
blessing of God on you and yours forever. 

Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of 
this structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our 

30 feeble commendation, the names of departed patriots. 
Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give 
them this day to Warren and his associates. On other 
occasions they have been given to your more immediate 
companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, 



102 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

to Sullivan, and to Lincoln. We have become reluctant 
to grant these, our highest and last honors, further. 
We would gladly hold them yet back from the little 
remnant of that immortal band. Serus in ccelum redeas. 
Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, oh, very far dis- 5 
tant be the day when any inscription shall bear your 
name, or any tongue pronounce its eulog}' ! 

The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to 
invite us respects the great changes which have hap- 
pened in the fifty years since the battle of Bunker lO 
Hill was fought. And it peculiarly marks the character 
of the present age, that, in looking at these changes, 
and in estimating their effect on our condition, we are 
obliged to consider, not what has been done in our 
own country only, but in others also. In these inter- 15 
esting times, while nations are making separate and 
individual advances in improvement, they make, too, a 
common progress; like vessels on a common tide, pro- 
pelled by the gales at different rates, according to their 
several structure and management, but all moved for- 20 
ward by one mighty current, strong enough to bear 
onward whatever docs not sink beneath it. 

A chief distinction of the present day is a community 
of opinions and knowledge amongst men in different 
nations, existing in a degree heretofore unknown. 25 
Knowledge has, in our time, triumphed, and is tri- 
umphing, over distance, over difference of languages, 
over diversity of habits, over prejudice, and over big- 
otry. The civilized and Christian world is fast learning 
the great lesson, that difference of nation does not imply 30 
necessary hostility, and that all contact need not be war. 
The whole world is becoming a common field for intel- 
lect to act in. Energy of mind, genius, power, where- 
soever it exists, may speak out in any tongue, and the 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 103 

world will hear it. A great chord of sentiment and 
feeling runs through two continents, and vibrates over 
both. Every breeze wafts intelligence from country to 
country; every wave rolls it; all give it forth, and all 

5 in turn receive it. There is a vast con^merce of ideas; 
there are marts and exchanges for intellectual discov- 
eries, and a wonderful fellowship of those individual 
intelligences which make up the mind and opinion of 
the age. Mind is the great lever of all things; human 

10 thought is the process by which human ends are ulti- 
mately answered; and the diffusion of knowledge, so 
astonishing in the last half-century, has rendered innu- 
merable minds, variously gifted by nature, competent 
to be competitors or fellow-workers on the theatre of 

15 intellectual operation. 

From these causes important improvements have 
taken place in the personal condition of individuals. 
Generally speaking, mankind are not only better fed 
and better clothed, but they are able also to enjoy 

20 more leisure; they possess more refinement and more 
self-respect. A superior tone of education, manners, 
and habits prevails. This remark, most true in its 
application to our own country, is also partly true 
when applied elsewhere. It is proved by the vastly 

25 augmented consumption of those articles of manufac- 
ture and of commerce which contribute to the comforts 
and the decencies of life; an augmentation which has 
far outrun the progress of population. And while the 
unexampled and almost incredible use of machinery 

30 would seem to supply the place of labor, labor still 
finds its occupation and its reward; so wisely has 
Providence adjusted men's wants and desires to their 
condition and their capacity. 

Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made 



104 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

during the last lialf-century in the polite and the me- 
chanic arts, in machinery and manufactures, in com- 
merce and agriculture, in letters and in science, would 
require volumes. I must abstain wholly from these 
subjects, and turn for a moment to the contemplation 5 
of what has been done on the great question of poli- 
tics and government. This is the master topic of the 
age; and during the whole fifty years it has intensely 
occupied the thoughts of men. The nature of civil 
government, its ends and uses, have been canvassed 10 
and investigated; ancient opinions attacked and de- 
fended; new ideas recommended and resisted, by 
whatever power the mind of man could bring to the 
controversy. From the closet and the public halls the 
debate has been transferred to the field ; and the world 15 
has been shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude, 
and the greatest variety of fortune. A day of peace 
has at length succeeded; and now that the strife has 
subsided, and the smoke cleared away, we may be- 
gin to see what has actually been done, permanently 20 
changing the state and condition of human society. 
And, without dwelling on particular circumstances, it 
is most apparent, that, from the before-mentioned 
causes of augmented knowledge and improved indi- 
vidual condition, a real, substantial, and important 25 
change has taken place, and is taking place, highly 
favorable, on the whole, to human liberty and human 
happiness. 

The great wheel of political revolution began to move 
in America. Here its rotation was guarded, regular, 30 
and safe. Transferred to the other continent, from 
unfortunate but natural causes, it received an irregidar 
and violent impulse; it whirled along with a fearful 
celerity; till at length, like the chariot wheels in the 



THE BUNKEE HILL MONUMENT 105 

races of antiquity, it took fire from the rapidity of its 
own motion, and blazed onward, spreading conflagration 
and terror around. 

We learn from the result of this experiment, how 

5 fortunate was our own condition, and how^ admirably 
the character of our people was calculated for setting 
the great example of popular governments. The pos- 
session of power did not turn the heads of the American 
people, for they had long been in the habit of exer- 

10 cising a great degree of self-control. Although the 
paramount authority of the parent state existed over 
them, yet a large field of legislation had always been 
open to our Colonial assemblies. They were accustomed 
to representative bodies and the forms of free govern- 

15 ment ; they understood the doctrine of the division of 
power among different branches, and the necessity of 
checks on each. The character of our countrymen, 
moreover, was sober, moral, and religious; and there 
was little in the change to shock their feelings of jus- 

20 tice and humanity, or even to disturb an honest preju- 
dice. We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privi- 
leged orders to cast down, no violent changes of prop- 
erty to encounter. In the American Eevolution, no man 
sought or wished for more than to defend and enjoy 

25 his own. None hoped for plunder or for spoil. 
Rapacity was unknown to it; the axe was not among 
the instruments of its accomplishment ; and we all know 
that it could not have lived a single day under any 
well-founded imputation of possessing a tendency ad- 

30 verse to the Christian religion. 

It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less 
auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, even when 
well intended, have terminated differently. It is, in- 
deed, a great achievement; it is the master-work of the 



106 AMERICAN PUBUC ADDRESSES 

world, to establish governments entirely popular on 
lasting foundations; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce 
the popular principle at all into governments to which 
it has been altogether a stranger. It cannot be doubted, 
however, t^at Europe has come out of the contest, in 5 
which she has been so long engaged, with greatly 
superior knowledge, and, in many respects, in a highly 
improved condition. Whatever benefit has been ac- 
quired is likely to be retained, for it consists mainly in 
the acquisition of more enlightened ideas. And al- 10 
though kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from 
the hands that hold them, in the same manner they 
were obtained; although ordinary and vulgar power 
may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been won; yet 
it is the glorious prerogative of the empire of knowl- is 
edge, that what it gains it never loses. On the contrary, 
it increases by the multiple of its power; all its ends 
become means; all its attainments, helps to new con- 
quests. Its whole abundant harvest is but so much seed 
wheat, and nothing has limited, and nothing can limit 20 
the amount of ultimate product. 

Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowl- 
edge, the people have begun, in all forms of govern- 
ment, to think and to reason on affairs of state. Ee- 
garding government as an institution for the public 25 
good, they demand a knowledge of its operations, and 
a participation in its exercise. A call for the repre- 
sentative system, wherever it is not enjoyed, and where 
there is already intelligence enough to estimate its value, 
is perseveringly made. Where men may speak out, they 30 
demand it! where the bayonet is at their throats, they 
pray for it. 

When Louis the Fourteenth said, "I am the State," 
he expressed the essence of the doctrine of unlimited 



a 



THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 107 

power. By the rules of that system, the people are 
disconnected from the state; they are its subjects, it 
is their lord. These ideas, founded in the love of 
power, and long supported by the excess and the abuse 

5 of it, are yielding, in our age, to other opinions; and 
the civilized world seems at last to be proceeding to 
the conviction of that fundamental and manifest truth, 
that the powers of government are but a trust, and 
that they cannot be lawfully exercised but for the 

10 good of the community. As knowledge is more and 
more extended, this conviction becomes more and 
more general. Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun 
in the firmament. Life and power are scattered with 
all its beams. The prayer of the Grecian champion, 

15 when enveloped in unnatural clouds and darkness, is 
the appropriate political supplication for the people of 
every country not yet blessed with free institutions: — 

''Dispel this cloud, tlie light of heaven restore, 
Give me to see, — and Ajax asks no more." 

20 We may hope that the growing influence of enlight- 
ened sentiment will promote the permanent peace of the 
world. Wars to maintain family alliances, to uphold or 
to cast down dynasties, and to regulate successions to 
thrones, which have occupied so much room in the his- 

25 tory of modern times, if not less likely to happen at all, 
will be less likely to become general and involve many 
nations, as the great principle shall be more and more 
established, that the interest of the world is peace, and 
its first great statute that every nation possesses the 

30 power of establishing a government for itself. But 
public opinion has attained also an influence over gov- 
ernments which do not admit the popular principle into 
their organization. A necessary respect for the judg- 



108 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

ment of the world operates, in some measure, as a 
control over the most unlimited forms of authority. It 
is owing, perhaps, to this truth, that the interesting 
struggle of the Greeks has been suffered to go on so long, 
without a direct interference, either to wrest that coun- 5 
try from its present masters, or to execute the system of 
pacification by force, and, with united strength, lay the 
neck of Christian and civilized Greek at the foot of the 
barbarian Turk. Let us thank God that we live in an 
age when something has influence besides the bayonet, 10 
and when the sternest authority does not venture to 
encounter the scorching power of public reproach. Any 
attempt of the kind I have mentioned should be met 
by one universal burst of indignation; the air of the 
civilized world ought to be made too warm to be com- 15 
fortably breathed by any one who would hazard it. 

It is, indeeed, a touching reflection, that, while in 
the fulness of our country's happiness, we rear this 
monument to her honor, we look for instruction in our 
undertaking to a country which is now in fearful con- 20 
test, not for works of art or memorials of glory, but 
for her own existence. Let her be assured that she is 
not forgotten in the world; that her efforts are ap- 
plauded, and that constant prayers ascend for her suc- 
cess. And let us cherish a confident hope for her final 25 
triumph. If the true spark of religious and civil lib- 
erty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot 
extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it may be 
smothered for a time; the ocean may overwhelm it; 
mountains may press it down ; but its inherent and 30 
unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the 
land, and at some time or other, in some place or other, 
the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. 

Among the great events of the half-century, we 



I 



THE BUNKEE HILL MONUMENT 109 

must reckon, certainly, the revolution of South Amer- 
ica; and we are not likely to overrate the importance 
of that revolution, either to the people of the country 
itself or to the rest of the world. The late Spanish 

5 colonies, now independent states, under circumstances 
less favorable, doubtless, than attended our own revo- 
lution, have yet successfully commenced their national 
existence. They have accomplished the great object 
of establishing their independence; they are known 

10 and acknowledged in the world ; and although in re- 
gard to their systems of government, their sentiments 
on religious toleration, and their provision for public 
instruction, they may have 3'et much to learn, it must 
be admitted that they have risen to the condition of 

15 settled and established states more rapidly than could 
have been reasonably anticipated. They already fur- 
nish an exhilarating example of the difference between 
free governments and despotic misrule. Their com- 
merce, at this moment, creates a new activity in all 

20 the great marts of the world. They show themselves 
able, by an exchange of commodities, to bear a useful 
part in the intercourse of nations. 

A new spirit of enterprise and industry begins to 
prevail; all the great interests of society receive a 

25 salutary impulse ; and the progress of information not 
only testifies to an improved condition, but itself con- 
stitutes the highest and most essential improvement. 

When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the 
existence of South America was scarcely felt in the 

30 civilized world. The thirteen little Colonies of North 
America habitually called themselves the "Continent." 
Borne down by Colonial subjugation, monopoly, and 
bigotry, these vast regions of the South were hardly 
visible above the horizon. But in our day there has 



110 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDKESSES 

been, as it were, a new creation. The southern hemi- 
sphere emerges from the sea. Its lofty mountains begin 
to lift themselves into the light of heaven; its broad 
and fertile plains stretch out, in beaut}^ to the eye of 
civilized man, and at the mighty bidding of the voice 5 
of political liberty the waters of darkness retire. 

And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the 
conviction of the benefit which the example of our 
country has produced, and is likely to produce, on 
human freedom and human happiness. Let us en- lo 
deavor to comprehend in all its magnitude, and to feel 
in all its importance, the part assigned to us in the 
great drama of human affairs. We are placed at the 
head of the system of representative and popular gov- 
ernments. Thus far our example shows that such 15 
governments are compatible not only with respectability 
and power, but with repose, with peace, with security 
of personal rights, with good laws, and a just adminis- 
tration. 

We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems 20 
are preferred, either as being thought better in them- 
selves, or as better suited to existing conditions, we 
leave the preference to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto 
proves, however, that the popular form is practicable, 
and that with wisdom and knowledge men may govern 25 
themselves ; and the duty incumbent on us is to preserve 
the consistency of this cheering example, and take care 
that nothing weaken its authority with the world. If, 
in our case, the representative system ultimately fail, 
popular governments must be pronounced impossible, so 
Xo combination of circumstances more favorable to the 
experiment can ever be expected to occur. The last 
hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us; and if it 
should be proclaimed that our example had become an 



THE BUNKEE HILL MONUMENT 111 

argument against the experiment, the knell of popular 
liberty would be sounded throughout the earth. 

These are excitements to duty; but they are not 
suggestions of doubt. Our history and our condition, 

5 all that is gone before us, and all that surrounds us, 
authorize the belief that popular governments, though 
subject to occasional variations, in form perhaps not 
always for the better, may yet, in their general charac- 
ter, be as durable and permanent as other systems. We 

10 know, indeed, that in our country any other is im- 
possible. The principle of free governments adheres to 
the American soil. It is imbedded in it, immovable as 
its mountains. 

And let the sacred obligations which have devolved 

15 on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. 
Those who established our liberty and our government 
are daily dropping from among us. The great trust 
now descends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves 
to that which is presented to us, as our appropriate 

20 object. We can win no laurels in a war for inde- 
pendence. Earlier and worthier hands have gathered 
them all. Nor are there places for us by the side of 
Solon, and Alfred, and other founders of states. Our 
fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a 

25 great duty of defence and preservation ; and there is 
open to us also, a noble pursuit, to which the spirit of 
the times strongly invites us. Our proper business is 
improvement. Let our age be the age of improvement. 
In a day of peace, let us advance the arts of peace 

30 and the works of peace. Let us develop the resources 
of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institu- 
tions, promote all its great interests, and see whether 
we also, in our day and generation, may not perform 
something worthy to be remembered. Let us cultivate 



X12 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

a true spirit of union and harmony. In pursuing the 
great objects which our condition points out to us, 
let us act under a settled conviction, and an habitual 
feeling, that these twenty-four States are one country. 
Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our 5 
duties. Let us extend our ideas over the whole of the 
vast field in which we are called to act. Let our object 

be, OUR COUNTRY, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, AND NOTHING 

BUT OUR COUNTRY. And, by the blessing of God, may 
that country itself become a vast and splendid monu- lo 
ment, not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of 
Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze 
with admiration forever ! 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE, AT FEEEPORT 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 

August 27, 1858 

MR. Lincoln's speech 

Ladies and Gentlemen — On Saturday last, Judge 
Douglas and myself first met in public discussion. He 
spoke one hour, I an hour and a half, and he replied 
for half an hour. The order is now reversed. I am 

5 to speak an hour, he an hour and a half, and then I 
am to reply for half an hour. I propose to devote 
myself during the first hour to the scope of what was 
brought within the range of his half-hour's speech at 
Ottawa. Of course there was brought within the scope 

10 in that half-hour's speech something of his own opening 
speech. In the course of that opening argument Judge 
Douglas proposed to me seven distinct interrogatories. 
In my speech of an hour and a half, I attended to some 
other parts of his speech, and incidentally, as I thought, 

15 answered one of the interrogatories then. I then dis- 
tinctly intimated to him that I would answer the rest 
of his interrogatories on condition only that he should 
agree to answer as many for me. He made no intima- 
tion at the time of the proposition, nor did he in his 

20 reply allude at all to that suggestion of mine. I do 
him no injustice in saying that he occupied at least 
half of his reply in dealing with me as though I had 
refused to answer his interrogatories. I now propose 
that I will answer any of the interrogatories, upon con- 

113 



114 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

dition that he will answer questions from me not exceed- 
ing the same number. I will give him an opportunity to 
respond. The Judge remains silent. I now say that 
I will answer his interrogatories, whether he answers 
mine or not; and that after I have done so, I shall 5 
propound mine to him. 

I have supposed myself, since the organization of the 
Eepublican party at Bloomington, in May, 1856, bound 
as a party man by the platforms of the party, then and 
since. If in any interrogatories which I shall answer 10 
I go beyond the scope of what is within these platforms, 
it will be perceived that no one is responsible but 
myself. 

Having said thus much, I will take up the Judge's 
interrogatories as I find them printed in the Chicago 15 
Times, and answer them seriatim. In order that there 
may be no mistake about it, I have copied the interroga- 
tories in writing, and also my answers to them. The 
first one of these interrogatories is in these words : 

Question 1. — "I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day 20 
stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional 
repeal of the Fugitive Slave law?" 

Answer. — I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor 
of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law. 

Question 2. — ^'I desire him to answer whether he 25 
stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the ad- 
mission of any more Slave States into the Union, even 
if the people want them?" 

Answer. — I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged 
against the admission of any more Slave States into the 30 
Union. 

Question 3. — "I want to know whether he stands 
pledged against the admission of a new State into the 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 115 

Union with such a Constitution as the people of that 
State may see fit to make?"' 

Answer. — I do not stand pledged against the admis- 
sion of a new State into the Union, with such a Consti- 
5 tution as the people of that State may see fit to make. 

Question 4. — "I want to know whether he stands to- 
day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District 
of Columbia ?'' 

Answer. — I do not stand to-day pledged to the aboli- 
10 tion of slavery in the District of Columbia. 

Question 5. — "I desire him to answer whether he 
stands pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade be- 
tween the different States?" 

Answer. — I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of 
15 the slave-trade between the different States. 

Question 6. — "I desire to know whether he stands 
pledged to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the 
United States, north as well as south of the Missouri 
Compromise line?" 
20 Answer. — I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to 
a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit 
slavery in all the United States Territories. 

Question 7. — "I desire him to answer whether he is 
opposed to the acquisition of any new territory unless 
25 slavery is first prohibited therein ?" 

Answer. — I am not generally opposed to honest ac- 
quisition of territory; and, in any given case, I would 
or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I 
might think such acquisition would or would not aggra- 
30 vate the slavery question among ourselves. 

Now, my friends, it will be perceived, upon an exami- 
nation of these questions and answers, that so far I have 
only answered that I was not pledged to this, that,* or 
the other. The Judge has not framed his interroga- 



116 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDKESSES 

tories to ask me anything more than this, and I have 
answered in strict accordance with the interrogatories, 
and have answered truly, that I am not pledged at all 
upon any of the points to which I have answered. But 
I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his 5 
interrogatory. I am rather disposed to take up at least 
some of these questions, and state what I really think 
upon them. 

As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive Slave 
law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now lo 
hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of 
the United States, the people of the Southern States are 
entitled to a Congressional Fugitive Slave law. Having 
said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the 
existing Fugitive Slave law, further than that I think 15 
it should have been framed so as to be free from some of 
the objections that j^ertain to it, without lessening its 
efficiency. A^d inasmuch as we are not now in an 
agitation in regard to an alteration or modification of 
that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a 20 
new subject of agitation upon the general question of 
slavery. 

In regard to the other question, of whether I am 
pledged to the admission of any more Slave States into 
the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be 25 
exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having 
to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly 
glad to know that there would never be another Slave 
State admitted into the Union ; but I must add that if 
slavery shall be kept out of the Territories during the so 
territorial existence of any one given Territory, and 
then the ^leople shall, having a fair chance and a clear 
field, when they come to adopt the constitution, do such 
an extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave constitution, 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 117 

■uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution 
among them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, 
but to admit them into the Union. 

The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to 

5 the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the 
second. 

The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of sla- 
very in the District of Columbia. In relation to that, 
I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be 

10 exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District 
of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the con- 
stitutional power to abolish it. Yet as a member of 
Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in 
favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District 

15 of Columbia, unless it would be upon these conditions : 
First, that the abolition should be gradual; second, that 
it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters 
in the District; and third, that compensation should be 
made to unwilling owners. With these three condi- 

20 tions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Con- 
gress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and, 
in the language of Henry Clay, "sweep from our capital 
that foul blot upon our nation.^^ 

In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here, 

25 that as to the question of the abolition of the slave-trade 
between the different States, I can truly answer, as I 
have, that I am pledged to nothing about it. It is a 
subject to which I have not given that mature considera- 
tion that would make me feel authorized to state a posi- 

30 tion so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other 
words, that question has never been prominently enough 
before me to induce me to investigate whether we 
really have the constitutional power to do it. I could 
investigate it ifl had sufficient time to bring myself to 



118 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

a conclusion upon that subject; but I have not done so, 
and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge Douglas. 
I must say, however, that if I should be of opinion that 
Congress does possess the constitutional power to abolish 
the slave-trade among the different States, I should still 5 
not be in favor of the exercise of that power, unless 
upon some conservative principle as I conceive it, akin 
to what I have said in relation to the abolition of slav- 
ery in the District of Columbia. 

My answer as to whether I desire that slavery should lo 
be prohibited in all the Territories of the United States, 
is full and explicit within itself, and cannot be made 
clearer by any comments of mine. So I suppose in re- 
gard to the question whether I am opposed to the 
acquisition of any more territory unless slavery is first 15 
prohibited therein, my answer is such that I could add 
nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better 
understood, than the answer which I have placed in 
writing. 

Xow in all this the Judge has me, and he has me on 20 
the record. I suppose he had flattered himself that I 
was really entertaining one set of opinions for one place, 
and another set for another place; that I was afraid to 
say at one place what I uttered at another. What I am 
saying here I suppose I say to a vast audience as 25 
strongly tending to Abolitionism as any audience in the 
State of Illinois, and I believe I am saying that which, 
if it would be offensive to any persons and render them 
enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this 
audience. so 

I now proceed to propound to the Judge the interro- 
gatories, so far as I have framed them. I will bring 
forward a new installment when I get them ready. I 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 119 

will bring them forward now, only reaching to number 
four. 
The first one is : — 
Question 1. — If the people of Kansas shall, by means 

5 entirely unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a 
State constitution, and ask admission into the Union 
under it, before they have the requisite number of in- 
habitants according to the English bill, — some ninet}^- 
three thousand, — will you vote to admit them? 

10 Question 2. — Can the people of a United States Ter- 
ritory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citi- 
zen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits 
prior to the formation of a State constitution ? 

Question 3. — If the Supreme Court of the United 

15 States shall decide that States cannot exclude slavery 
from their limits, are you in favor of acquiescing in, 
adopting, and following such decision as a rule of politi- 
cal action? 

Question 4. — Are you in favor of acquiring addi- 

20 tional territory, in disregard of how such acquisition 
may affect the nation on the slavery question ? 

As introductory to these interrogatories which Judge 
Douglas propounded to me at Ottawa, he read a set of 
resolutions which he said Judge Trumbull and myself 

25 had participated in adopting, in the first Eepublican 

, State Convention, held at Springfield in October, 1854. 

He insisted that I and Judge Trumbull, and perhaps 

the entire Republican party, were responsible for the 

doctrines contained in the set of resolutions which he 

SO read, and I understand that it was from that set of 
resolutions that he deduced the interrogatories which he 
propounded to me, using these resolutions as a sort of 
authority for propounding those questions to me. Now, 
I say here to-day that I d^ -not answer his interroga- 



120 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSEfcJ 

tories because of their springing at all from that set 
of resolutions which he read. I answered them because 
Judge Douglas thought fit to ask them. I do not nov(, 
nor never did, recognize any responsibility upon myself 
in that set of resolutions. When I replied to him on 5 
that occasion, I assured him that I never had anything 
to do with them. I repeat here to-day that I never in 
any possible form had anything to do with that set of 
resolutions. It turns out, I believe, that those resolu- 
tions were never passed in any convention held in 10 
Springfield. It turns out that they were never passed at 
any convention or any public meeting that I had any 
part in. I believe it turns out, in addition to all this, 
that there was not, in the fall of 1854, any convention 
holding a session in Springfield, calling itself a Republi- 15 
can State Convention ; yet it is true there was a conven- 
tion, or assemblage of men calling themselves a conven- 
tion, at Springfield, that did pass some resolutions. But 
•so little did I really know of the proceedings of that 
convention, or what set of resolutions they had passed, 20 
though having a general knowledge that there had been 
such an assemblage of men there, that when Judge 
Douglas read the resolutions, I really did not know but 
they had been the resolutions passed then and there. I 
did not question that they were the resolutions adopted. 25 
F(ir I could not bring myself to suppose that Judge 
Douglas could say what he did upon this subject without 
knoicing that it was true. I contented myself, on that 
occasion, with denying, as I truly could, all connection 
with them, not denying or affirming whether they were 30 
passed at Springfield. Now, it turns out that he had 
got hold of some resolutions passed at some convention 
or pu])lic meeting in Kane County. I wish to say here, 
that I don't conceive that in any fair and just mind 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 121 

this discovery relieves me at all. I had just as much to 
do with the convention in Kane County as that at 
Springfield. I am just as much responsible for the 
resolutions at Kane County as those at Springfield, — the 
amount of the responsibility being exactly nothing in 
either case ; no more than there would be in regard to a 
set of resolutions passed in the moon. 

I allude to this extraordinary matter in this canvass 
for some further purpose than anything yet advanced. 

10 Judge Douglas did not make his statement upon that 
occasion as matters that he believed to be true, but he 
stated them roundly as being true, in such form as to 
pledge his veracity for their truth. When the whole 
matter turns out as it does, and when we consider who 

15 Judge Douglas is, — that he is a distinguished Senator 
of the United States; that he has served nearly twelve 
years as such ; that his character is not at all limited as 
an ordinary Senator of the United States, but that his 
name has become of world-wide renown, — it is most ex- 

20 traordinary that he should so far forget all the sugges- 
tions of justice to an adversary, or of prudence to him- 
self, as to venture upon the assertion of that which the 
slightest investigation would have shown him to be 
wholly false. I can only account for his having done so 

25 upon the supposition that that evil genius which has 
attended him through his life, giving to him an appar- 
ent astonishing prosperity, such as to lead very many 
good men to doubt there being any advantage in virtue 
over vice, — I say I can only account for it on the sup- 

30 position that that evil genius has at last made up its 
mind to forsake him. 

And I may add that another extraordinary feature of 
the Judge's conduct in this canvass — ^made more extra- 
ordinary by this incident — is, that he is in the habit, in 



122 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

almost all the speeches he makes, of charging falsehood 
upon his adversaries, myself and others. I now ask 
whether he is able to find in anything that Judge Trum- 
bull, for instance, has said, or in anything that I have 
said, a justification at all compared with what we have, 5 
in this instance, for that sort of vulgarity. 

I have been in the habit of charging as a matter of 
belief on my part that, in the introduction of the 
Nebraska bill into Congress, there was a conspiracy to 
make slavery perpetual and national. I have arranged 10 
from time to time the evidence which establishes and 
proves the truth of this charge. I recurred to this 
charge at Ottawa. I shall not now have time to dwell 
upon it at very great length; but inasmuch as Judge 
Douglas, in his reply of half an hour, made some points 15 
upon me in relation to it, I propose noticing a few of 
them. 

The Judge insists that, in the first speech I made, in 
which I very distinctly made that charge, he thought 
for a good while I was in fun ! that I was playful ; that 20 
I was not sincere about it ; and that he only grew angry 
and somewhat excited when he found that I insisted 
upon it is a matter of earnestness. He says he charac- 
terized it as a falsehood so far as I implicated his moral 
character in that transaction. Well, I did not know, 25 
till he presented that view, that I had implicated his 
moral character. He is very much in the habit, when 
he argues me up into a position I never thought of 
occupying, of very cosily saying he has no doubt Lin- 
coln is "conscientious" in saying so. He should remem- so 
ber that I did not know but what he was altogether 
"conscientious'' in that matter. I can conceive it pos- 
sible for men to conspire to do a good thing, and I really 
find nothing in Judge Douglas's course or arguments 



i 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 123 

that is contrary to or inconsistent with his helief of a 
conspiracy to nationalize and spread slavery as being a 
good and blessed thing; and so I hope he will under- 
stand that I do not at all question but that in all this 

5 matter he is entirely "conscientious." 

But to draw your attention to one of the points I 
made in this case, beginning at the beginning. When 
the Nebraska bill was introduced, or a short time after- 
ward, by an amendment, I believe, it was provided that 

10 it must be considered "the true intent and meaning of 
this Act not to legislate slavery into any State or Terri- 
tory, or to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their own 
domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to 

45 the Constitution of the United States." I have called 
his attention to the fact that when he and some others 
began arguing that they were giving an increased degree 
of liberty to the people in the Territories over and above 
what they formerly had on the question of slavery, a 

20 question was raised whether the law was enacted to give 
such unconditional liberty to the people; and to test the 
sincerity of this mode of argument, Mr. Chase, of Ohio, 
introduced an amendment, in which he made the law — 
if the amendment were adopted — expressly declare that 

25 the people of the Territory should have the power to 
exclude slavery if they saw fit. I have asked attention 
also to the fact that Judge Douglas and those who acted 
with him voted that amendment down, notwithstanding 
it expressed exactly the thing they said was the true 

30 intent and meaning of the law. I have called attention 
to the fact that in subsequent times a decision of the 
Supreme Court has been made, in which it has been de- 
clared that a Territorial Legislature has no constitu- 
tional right to exclude slavery. And I have argued and 



124 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

Baid that for men who did intend that the people of the 
Territory should have the right to exclude slavery abso- 
lutely and unconditionally, the voting down of Chase's 
amendment is wholly inexplicable. It is a puzzle, a 
riddle. But I have said, that with men who did look 5 
forward to such a decision, or who had it in contempla- 
tion that such a decision of the Supreme Court would 
or might be made, the voting down of that amendment 
would be perfectly rational and intelligible. It would 
keep Congress from coming in collision with the deci- lo 
sion when it was made. Anybody can conceive that if 
there was an intention or expectation that such a deci- 
sion was to follow, it would not be a very desirable party 
attitude to get into for the Supreme Court — all or nearly 
all its members belonging to the same party — to decided 
one way, when the party in Congress had decided the 
other way. Hence it would be very rational for men 
expecting such a decision to keep the niche in that law 
clear for it. After pointing this out, I tell Judge Doug- 
las that it looks to me as though here was the reason 20 
why Chase's amendment was voted down. I tell him 
that, as he did it, and knows why he did it, if it was 
done for a reason different from this, he knows what 
that reason was, and can tell us what it was. I tell him, 
also, it will be vastly more satisfactory to the country 25 
for him to give some other plausible, intelligible reason 
why it was voted down than to stand upon his dignity 
and call people liars. Well, on Saturday he did make 
his answer; and what do you think it was? He says if 
I had only taken upon myself to tell the whole trutli so 
about that amendment of Chase's, no explanation would 
have been necessary on liis part — or words to that effect. 
Now, I say here that T am quite unconscious of having 
suppressed anything material to the case, and I am very 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 125 

frank to admit if there is any sound reason other than 
that which appeared to me material, it is quite fair for 
him to present it. What reason does he propose ? That 
when Chase came forward with his amendment expressly 

5 authorizing the people to exclude slavery from the limits 
of every Territory, General Cass proposed to Chase, if 
he (Chase) would add to his amendment that the people 
should have the power to introduce or exclude, they 
would let it go. This is substantially all of his reply. 

10 And because Chase would not do that, they voted his 
amendment down. Well, it turns out, I believe, upon 
examination, that General Cass took some part in the 
little running debate upon that amendment, and then 
ran away and did not vote on it at all. Is not that the 

15 fact ? So confident, as I think, was General Cass that 
there was a snake somewhere about, he chose to run 
away from the whole thing. This is an inference I 
draw from the fact, that though he took part in the 
debate, his name does not appear in the ayes and noes. 

20 But does Judge Douglas's reply amount to a satisfactory 
answer? [Cries of "Yes," "Yes," and "No," "No."] 
There is some little difference of opinion here. But I 
ask attention to a few more views bearing on the ques- 
tion of whether it amounts to a satisfactory answer. 

25 The men who were determined that that amendment 
should not get into the bill and spoil the place where 
the Dred Scott decision was to come in, sought an ex- 
cuse to get rid of it somewhere. One of these ways — 
one of these excuses — was to ask Chase to add to his 

30 proposed amendment a provision that the people might 
introduce slavery if they wanted to. They very well 
knew Chase would do no such thing, that Mr. Chase was 
one of the men differing from them on the broad prin- 
ciple of his insisting that freedom was better than sla- 



126 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

very, — a man who would not consent to enact a law, 
penned with his own hand, by which he was made to 
recognize slavery on the one hand, and liberty on the 
other, as precisely equal; and when they insisted on his 
doing this, they very well knew they insisted on that 5 
which he would not for a moment think of doing, and 
that they were only bluffing him. I believe (I have 
not, since he made his answer, had a chance to examine 
the journals or "Congressional Globe" and therefore 
speak from memory) — I believe the state of the bill at lo 
that time, according to parliamentary rules, was such 
that no member could propose an additional amendment 
to Chasers amendment. I rather think this is the 
truth, — the Judge shakes his head. Very well. I 
would like to know, then, if they wanted Chase's amend- is 
ment fixed over, why somebody else could not have of- 
fered to do it? If they wanted it amended, why did 
they not offer the amendment? Why did they stand 
there taunting and quibbling at Chase? Why did they 
not put it in themselves? But to put it on the other 20 
ground : suppose that there was such an amendment of- 
fered, and Chase's was an amendment to an amendment ; 
until one is disposed of by parliamentary law, you can- 
not pile another on. Then all these gentlemen had to 
do was to vote Chase's on, and then, in the amended 25 
form in which the whole stood, add their own amend- 
ment to it, if they wanted to put it in that shape. This 
was all they were obliged to do, and the ayes and noes 
show that there were thirty-six who voted it down, 
against ten who voted in favor of it. The thirty-six 30 
held entire sway and control. They could in some form 
or other have put that bill in the exact shape they 
wanted. If there was a rule preventing their amending 
it at the time, they coukl pass that, and then. Chase's 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 127 

amendment being merged, put it in the shape they 
wanted. They did not choose to do so, but they went 
into a quibble with Chase to get him to add what they 
knew he would not add, and because he would not, they 

5 stand upon the flimsy pretext for voting down what they 
argued was the meaning and intent of their own bill. 
They left room thereby for this Died Scott decision, 
which goes very far to make slavery national throughout 
the United States. 

10 I pass one or two points I have, because my time will 
very soon expire; but I must be allowed to say that 
Judge Douglas recurs again, as he did upon one or two 
other occasions, to the enormity of Lincoln, — an insig- 
nificant individual like Lincoln, — upon his ipse dixit 

15 charging a conspiracy upon a large number of members 
of Congress, the Supreme Court, and two Presidents, to 
nationalize slavery. I want to say that, in the first 
place, I have made no charge of this sort upon my ipse 
dixit. I have only arrayed the evidence tending to 

20 prove it, and presented it to the understanding of others, 
saying what I think it proves, but giving you the means 
of judging w^hether it proves it or not. This is precisely 
what I have done. I have not placed it upon my ipse 
dixit at all. On this occasion, I wish to recall his atten- 

25 tion to a piece of evidence which I brought forward at 
Ottawa on Saturday, showing that he had made substan- 
tially the same charge against substantially the same 
persons, excluding his dear self from the categor3\ I 
ask him to give some attention to the evidence which I 

30 l)rought forward that he himself had discovered a "fatal 
blow being struck" against the right of the people to 
exclude slavery from their limits, w^hich fatal blow he 
assumed as in evidence in an article in the Washington 
"Union," published "by authority." I ask by whose 



128 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

authority? He discovers a similar or identical provi- 
sion in the Lecompton Constitution. Made b}' whom? 
The framers of that Constitution. Advocated by 
whom ? By all the members of the party in the nation, 
who advocated the introduction of Kansas into the 5 
Union under the Lecompton Constitution. 

I have asked his attention to the evidence that he ar- 
rayed to prove that such a fatal blow was being struck, 
and to the facts which he brought forward in support of 
that charge, — being identical with the one which he lo 
thinks so villainous in me. He pointed it, not at a 
newspaper editor merely, but at the President and his 
Cabinet and the members of Congress advocating the 
Lecompton Constitution and those framing that instru- 
ment. I must again be permitted to remind him that 15 
although my ipse dixit may not be as great as his, yet it 
somewhat reduces the force of his calling my attention 
to the enormity of my making a like charge against him. 

Go on. Judge Douglas. 

MB. DOUGLAS'S SPEECH. 

Ladies and Gentlemen — The silence with which 20 
you have listened to Mr. Lincoln during his hour is 
creditable to this vast audience, composed of men of 
various political parties. Nothing is more honorable to 
any large mass of people assembled for the purpose of a 
fair discussion than that kind and respectful attention 25 
that is yielded, not only to your political friends, but 
to those who are opposed to you in politics. 

I am glad that at last I have brought Mr. Lincoln to 
the conclusion that he had better define his position on 
certain political questions to which I called his attention 30 
at Ottawa. He there showed no disposition, no inclina- 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 129 

tion, to answer them. I did not present idle questions 
for him to answer, merely for my gratification. I laid 
the foundation for those interrogatories by showing that 
they constituted the platform of the party whose nomi- 

5 nee he is for the Senate. I did not presume that I had 
the right to catechise him as I saw proper, unless I 
showed that his party, or a majority of it, stood upon 
the platform and were in favor of the propositions upon 
which my questions were based. I desired simply to 

10 know, inasmuch as he had been nominated as the first, 
last, and only choice of his party, whether he concurred 
in the platform which that party had adopted for its 
government. In a few minutes I will proceed to review 
the answers which he has given to these interrogatories ; 

15 but, in order to relieve his anxiety, I will first respond 
to these which he has presented to me. Mark you, he 
has not presented interrogatories which have ever re- 
ceived the sanction of the party with which I am acting, 
and hence he has no other foundation for them than his 

20 own curiosity. 

First, he desires to know if the people of Kansas shall 
form a constitution by means entirely proper and un- 
objectionable, and ask admission into the Union as a 
State, before they have the requisite population for a 

25 member of Congress, whether I will vote for that ad- 
mission. Well, now, I regret exceedingly that he did 
not answer that interrogatory himself before he put it to 
me, in order that we might understand, and not be left 
to infer, on which side he is. Mr. Trumbull, during the 

30 last session of Congress, voted from the beginning to the 
end against the admission of Oregon, although a Free 
State, because she had not the requisite population for a 
member of Congress. Mr. Trumbull would not con- 
sent, under any circumstances, to let a State, free or 



130 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

slave, come into the Union until it had the requisite 
population. As Mr. Trumbull is in the field, fighting 
for Mr. Lincoln, I would like to have Mr. Lincoln an- 
swer his own question, and tell me whether he is fighting 
Trumbull on that issue or not. But I will answer his 5 
question. In reference to Kansas, it is my opinion that 
as she has population enough to constitute a Slave State, 
she has people enough for a Free State. I will not 
make Kansas an exceptional case to the other States of 
the Union. I hold it to be a sound rule, of universal lo 
application, to require a Territory to contain the re- 
quisite population for a member of Congress before it is 
admitted as a State into the Union. I made that propo- 
sition in the Senate in 1856, and I renewed it during 
the last session, in a bill providing that no Territory of 15 
the United States should form a constitution and apply 
for admission until it had the requisite population. On 
another occasion I proposed that neither Kansas nor any 
other Territory should be admitted until it had the 
requisite population. Congress did not adopt any of my 20 
propositions containing this general rule, but did make 
an exception of Kansas. I will stand by that exception. 
Either Kansas must come in as a Free State, with what- 
ever population she may have, or the rule must be ap- 
plied to all the other Territories alike. I therefore 25 
answer at once, that, it having been decided that Kansas 
has people enough for a Slave State, I hold that she has 
enough for a Free State. I hope Mr. Lincoln is satis- 
fied with my answer; and now I would like to get his 
answer to his own interrogatory, — whether or not he 30 
will vote to admit Kansas before she has the requisite 
population. I want to know whether he will vote to 
admit Oregon before that Territory has the requisite 
population. Mr. Trumbull will not, and the same rea- 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 131 

son that commits Mr. Trumbull against the admission 
of Oregon, commits him against Kansas, even if she 
should apply for admission as a Free State. If there 
is an}^ sincerity, any truth, in the argument of Mr. 

5 Trumbull in the Senate, against the admission of 
Oregon because she had not 93,420 people, although her 
population was larger than that of Kansas, he stands 
pledged against the admission of both Oregon and Kan- 
sas until they have 93,420 inhabitants. I would like 

10- Mr. Lincoln to answer this question. I would like him 
to take his own medicine. If he differs with Mr. Trum- 
bull, let him answer his argument against the admission 
of Oregon, instead of poking questions at me. 

The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln 

15 is. Can the people of a Territory in any lawful way, 
against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, 
exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation 
of a State constitution? I answer emphatically, as Mr. 
Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from 

20 every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the people 
of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery 
from their limits prior to the formation of a State con- 
stitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that 
question over and over again. He heard me argue the 

25 TTebraska bill on that principle all over the State in 
1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for 
pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that 
question. It matters not what way the Supreme court 
may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether 

30 slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the 
Constitution, the people have the lawful means to intro- 
duce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that 
slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless 
it is supported by local police regulations. Those police 



132 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

regulations can only be established by the local legisla- 
ture ; and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will 
elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly 
legislation effectually prevent the introduction of it into 
their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their 5 
legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter 
what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that 
abstract question, still the right of the people to make 
a Slave Territory or a Free Territory is perfect and 
complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln 10 
deems my answer satisfactory on that point. 

In this connection, I will notice the charge which he 
has introduced in relation to Mr. Chase's amendjment. I 
thought that I had chased that amendment out of Mr. 
Lincoln's brain at Ottawa ; but it seems that it still 15 
haunts his imagination, and he is not yet satisfied. I 
had supposed that he would be ashamed to press that 
question further. He is a lawyer, and has been a mem- 
ber of Congress, and has occupied his time and amused 
you by telling you about parliamentary proceedings. He 20 
ought to have known better than to try to palm off his 
miserable impositions upon this intelligent audience. 
The Nebraska bill provided that the legislative power 
and authority of the said Territory should extend to all 
rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the 25 
organic act and the Constitution of the United States. 
I did not make any exception as to slavery, but gave all 
the power that it was possible for Congress to give, with- 
out violating the Constitution, to the Territorial legisla- 
ture, with no exception or limitation on the subject of 30 
slavery at all. The language of that bill which I have 
quoted gave the full power and the full autliority over 
the subject of slavery, affirmatively and negatively, to 
introduce it or exclude it, so far as the Constitution of 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 133 

the United States would permit. What more could Mr. 
Ghase give by his amendment? Nothing. He offered 
his amendment for the identical purpose for which Mr. 
Lincoln is using it, — to enable demagogues in the coun- 

5 try to try and deceive the people. 

His amendment was to this effect. It provided that 
the legislature should have the power to exclude slavery ; 
and General Cass suggested, "Why not give the power to 
introduce as well as exclude?" The answer was, They 

10 have the power already in the bill to do both. Chase 
was afraid his amendment would be adopted if he put 
the alternative proposition, and so make it fair both 
ways, but would not yield. He offered it for the pur- 
pose of having it rejected. He offered it, as he has 

15 himself avowed over and over again, simply to make 
capital out of it for the stump. He expected that it 
would be capital for small politicians in the country, 
and that they would make an effort to deceive the peo- 
ple with it; and he was not mistaken, for Lincoln is 

20 carrying out the plan admirably. Lincoln knows that 
the Nebraska bill, without Chase's amendment, gave all 
the power which the Constitution woujd permit. Could 
Congress confer any more ? Could Congress go beyond 
the Constitution of the country? We gave all a full 

25 grant, with no exception in regard to slavery one way 
or the other. We left that question as we left all others, 
to be decided by the people for themselves, just as they 
please. I will not occupy my time on this question. I 
have argued it before, all over Illinois. I have argued 

30 it in this beautiful city of Freeport ; I have argued it in 
the North, the South, the East, and the West, avowing 
the same sentiments and the same principles. I have 
not been afraid to avow my sentiments up here for fear 
I would be trotted down into Egypt. 



134 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

The third question which Mr. Lincoln presented is, If 
the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide 
that a State of this Union cannot exclude slavery from 
its own limits, will I submit to it? I am amazed that 
Lincoln should ask such a question. ["A schoolboy 5 
knows better."] Yes, a schoolboy does know better. 
Mr. Lincoln's object is to cast an imputation upon the 
Supreme Court. He knows that there never was but 
one man in America, claiming any degree of intelligence 
or decency, who ever for a moment pretended such a 10 
thing. It is true that the AVashington "Union," in an 
article published on the 17th of last December, did put 
forth that doctrine, and I denounced the article on the 
floor of the Senate, in a speech which Mr. Lincoln now 
pretends was against the President. The "Union" had 13 
claimed that slavery had a right to go into the Free 
States, and that any provision in the Constitution or 
laws of the Free States to the contrary were null and 
void. I denounced it in the Senate, as I said before, 
and I was the first man who did. Lincoln's friend^^, 20 
Trumbull, and Seward, and Hale and Wilson, and tlio 
whole Black Republican side of the Senate, were silent. 
They left it to me to denounce it. And what was the 
reply made to me on that occasion? Mr. Toombs, of 
Georgia, got up and undertook to lecture me on tlie 23 
ground that I ought not to have deemed the article 
worthy of notice, and ought not to have replied to it; 
that there was not one man, woman, or child south of 
the Potomac, in any Slave State, who did not repudiate 
any such pretension. Mr. Lincoln knows that that so 
reply was made on the spot, and yet now he asks this 
question. He might as well ask me, Suppose Mr. Lin- 
coln should steal a horse, would I sanction it; and it 
would be as genteel in me to ask him, in the event lie 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 135 

stole a horse, what ought to be done with him. He 
casts an imputation upon the Supreme Court of the 
United States, by supposing that they would violate 
the Constitution of the United States. I tell him that 

5 such a thing is not possible. It would be an act of 
moral treason that no man on the bench could ever de-* 
scend to. Mr. Lincoln himself would never in his par- 
tisan feelings so far forget what was right as to be 
guilty of such an act. 

10 The fourth question of Mr. Lincoln is, Are you in 
favor of acquiring additional territory, in disregard as 
to how such acquisition may affect the Union on the 
Slavery question? This question is very ingeniously 
and cunningly put. 

15 The Black Eepublican creed lays it down expressly 
that under no circumstances shall we acquire any more 
territory, unless slavery is first prohibited in the coun- 
try. I ask Mr. Lincoln whether he is in favor of that 
proposition. Are you [addressing Mr. Lincoln] opposed 

20 to the acquisition of any more territory, under any cir- 
cumstances, unless slavery is prohibited in it ? That he 
does not like to answer. When I ask him whether he 
stands up to that article in the platform of his party, 
he turns, Yankee-fashion, and without answering it, 

25 asks me whether I am in favor of acquiring territory 
without regard to how it may affect the Union on the 
slavery question. I answer that whenever it becomes 
necessary, in our growth and progress, to acquire more 
territory, that I am in favor of it, without reference to 

30 the question of slavery ; and when we have acquired it, 
I will leave the people free to do as they please, either 
to make it slave or free territory, as they prefer. It is 
idle to tell me or you that we have territory enough. 
Our fathers supposed that we had enough wlien our tor- 



136 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

ritory extended to the Mississippi Eiver; but a few 
years' growth and expansion satisfied them that we 
needed more, and the Louisiana territory, from the West 
branch of the Mississippi to the British possessions, was 
acquired. Then we acquired Oregon, then California 5 
and New Mexico. We have enough now for the pres- 
ent ; but this is a young and growing nation. It swarms 
as often as a hive of bees ; and as new swarms are turned 
out each year, there must be hives in which they can 
gather and make their honey. In less than fifteen years, lo 
if the same progress that has distinguished this country 
for the last fifteen years continues, every foot of vacant 
land between this and the Pacific Ocean, owned by the 
United States, will be occupied. Will you not continue 
to increase at the end of fifteen years as well as now ? 15 
I tell you, increase, and multiply, and expand, is the 
law of this nation's existence. You cannot limit this 
great Republic by mere boundary lines, saying, "Thus 
far shalt thou go, and no further." Any one of you 
gentlemen might as well say to a son twelve years old 20 
that he is big enough, and must not grow any larger; 
and in order to prevent his growth, put a hoop around 
him to keep him to his present size. What would be the 
result? Either the hoop must burst and be rent 
asunder, or the child must die. So it would be with 25 
this great nation. With our natural increase, growing 
with a rapidity unknown in any part of the globe, with 
the tide of emigration tliat is fleeing from despotism in 
the old world to seek refuge in our own, there is a con- 
stant torrent pouring into this country that requires 30 
more land, more territory upon which to settle; and just 
as fast as our interests and our destiny require addi- 
tional territory in the North, in the South, or on the 
islands of the ocean, I am for it; and when we acquire 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 137 

it, will leave the people, according to the Nebraska bill, 
free to do as they please on the subject of slavery and 
<gvery other question. 

I trust now that Mr. Lincoln will deem himself an- 

6 swered on his four points. He racked his brain so 
much in devising these four questions that he exhausted 
himself, and had not strength enough to invent the 
others. As soon as he is able to hold a council with his 
advisers, Lovejoy, Farnsworth, and Fred Douglass, he 

10 will frame and propound others. ["Good, good."] 
You Black Eepublicans who say good, I have no doubt 
think that they are all good men. I have reason to 
recollect that some people in this country think that 
Fred Douglass is a very good man. The last time I 

15 came here to make a^ speech, while talking from the 
stand to you, people of Freeport, as I am doing to-day, 
I saw a carriage — and a magnificent one it was — drive 
up and take a position on the outside of the crowd; a 
beautiful young lady was sitting on the box-seat, whilst 

20 Fred Douglass and her mother reclined inside, and the 
owner of the carriage acted as driver. I saw this in 
your own town. ["What of it?"] All I have to say 
of it is this, that if you. Black Eepublicans, think that 
the negro ought to be on a social equality with your 

25 wives and daughters, and ride in a carriage with your 
wife, whilst you drive the team, you have perfect right 
to do so. I am told that one of Fred Douglass's kins- 
men, another rich black negro, is now traveling in this 
part of the State, making speeches for his friend Lin- 

30 coin as the champion of black men. ["What have you 
to say against it?"] All I have to say on that subject 
is, that those of you'who believe that the negro is your 
equal and ought to be on an equality with you socially. 



138 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

politically, and legally, have a right to entertain those 
opinions, and of course will vote for Mr. Lincoln. 

I have a word to say on Mr. Lincoln's answers to the 
interrogatories contained in my speech at Ottawa, and 
which he has pretended to reply to here to-day. Mr. 5 
Lincoln makes a great parade of the fact that I quoted 
a platform as having been adopted by the Black Repub- 
lican party at Springfield in 1854, which, it turns out, 
was adopted at another place. Mr. Lincoln loses sight 
of the thing itself in his ecstasies over the mistake I lo 
made in stating the place where it was done. He thinks 
that that platform was not adopted on the right "spot." 

When I put the direct questions to Mr. Lincoln to 
ascertain whether he now stands pledged to that creed, 
— to the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law, 15 
a refusal to admit any more Slave States into the 
Union, even if the people want them, a determination 
to apply the Wilmot Proviso, not only to all the terri- 
tory we now have, but all that we may hereafter acquire, 
—he refused to answer ; and his followers say, in excuse, 20 
that the resolutions upon which I based my interroga- 
tories were not adopted at the ''right spot." Lincoln 
and his political friends are great on ''spots." In Con- 
gress, as a representative of this State, he declared the 
Mexican war to be unjust and infamous, and would not 25 1 
support it, or acknowledge his own country to be right 
in the contest, because he said that American blood was 
not shed on American soil in the "right spot." ^ And 
now he cannot answer the questions I put to him at 
Ottawa because the resolutions I read were not adopted so 
at the "right spot." It may be possible that I was led 
into an error as to the spot on wkich the resolutions I 
then read were proclaimed, but I was not, and am not, 
in error as to the fact of their forming the basis of the 



J 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE I39 

creed of the Republican party when that party was first 
organized. I will state to you the evidence I had, and 
upon which I relied for my statement that the resolu- 
tions in question were adopted at Springfield on the 5th 

5 of October, 1854. Although I was aware that such 
resolutions had been passed in this district, and nearly 
all the Northern Congressional Districts and County 
Conventions, I had not noticed whether or not they had 
been adopted by any State convention. In 1856, a de- 

10 bate arose in Congress between Major Thomas L. Har- 
ris, of the Springfield District, and Mr. Norton, of the 
Joliet District, on political matters connected with our 
State, in the course of which. Major Harris quoted those 
resolutions as having been passed by the first Eepublican 

15 State Convention that ever assembled in Illinois. I 
knew that Major Harris was remarkable for his accu- 
racy, that he was a very conscientious and sincere man, 
and I also noticed that Norton did not question the 
accuracy of this statement. I therefore took it for 

20 granted that it was so ; and the other day when I con- 
cluded to use the resolutions at Ottawa, I wrote to 
Charles H. Lanphier, editor of the "State Register," at 
Springfield, calling his attention to them, telling him 
that I had been informed that Major Harris was lying 

25 sick at Springfield, and desiring him to call upon him 
and ascertain all the facts concerning the resolutions, 
the time and the place where they were adopted. In 
reply, Mr. Lanphier sent me two copies of his paper, 
which I have here. The first is a copy of the "State 

30 Register," published at Springfield, Mr. Lincoln's own 
town, on the IGth of October, 1854, only eleven days 
after the adjournment of the Convention, from which I 
desire to read the following: 

"During the late discussions in this city, Lincoln 



140 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

made a speech, to which Judge Douglas replied. In 
Lincoln's speech he took the broad ground that, accord- 
ing to the Declaration of Independence, the whites and 
blacks are equal. From this he drew the conclusion, 
which he several times repeated, that the white man had 5 
no right to pass laws for the government of the black 
man without the nigger's consent. This speech of Lin- 
coln's was heard and applauded by all the Abolitionists 
assembled in Springfield. So soon as Mr. Lincoln was 
done speaking, Mr. Codding arose, and requested all the lo 
delegates to the Black Republican Convention to with- 
draw into the Senate chamber. They did so ; and after 
long deliberation, they laid down the following Aboli- 
tion platform as the platform on which they stood. We 
call the particular attention of all our readers to it." 15 

Then follows the identical platform, word for word, 
which I read at Ottawa. Now, that was published in 
Mr. Lincoln's own town, eleven days after the Conven- 
tion was held, and it has remained on record up to this 
day never contradicted. 20 

When I quoted the resolutions at Ottawa and ques- 
tioned Mr. Lincoln in relation to them, he said that his 
name was on the committee that reported them, but he 
did not serve, nor did he think he served, because he 
was, or thought he was, in Tazewell County at the time 25 
the Convention was in session. He did not deny that 
the resolutions were passed by the Springfield Conven- 
tion. He did not know better, and evidently thought 
that they were; but afterward his friends declared that 
they had discovered that they varied in some respects so 
from the resolutions passed by that Convention. I have 
shown you that I had good evidence for believing that 
the resolutions had been passed at Springfield. Mr. 
Lincoln ought to have known better; but not a word is 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE J41 

said about his ignorance on the subject, whilst I, not- 
withstanding the circumstances, am accused of forgery. 
Now, I will show you that if I have made a mistake 
as to the place where these resolutions were adopted, — 

5 and when I get down to Springfield I will investigate 
the matter, and see whether or not I have, — that the 
principles they enunciate were adopted as the Black 
Eepublican platform ["white, white"], in the various 
counties and Congressional Districts throughout the 

10 north end of the State in 1854. This platform was 
adopted in nearly every county that gave a Black Ee- 
publican majority for the Legislature in that year, and 
here is a man [pointing to Mr. Denio, who sat on the 
stand near Deacon Bross] who knows as well as any 

15 living man that it was the creed of the Black Eepubli- 
can party at that time. I would be willing to call 
Denio as a witness, or any other honest man belonging 
to that party. I will now read the resolutions adopted 
at the Eockford Convention on the 30th of August 1854, 

20 which nominated Washburne for Congress. You elected 
him on the following platform : 

"Resolved, That the continued and increasing aggres- 
sions of slavery in our country are destructive of the 
best rights of a free people, and that such aggressions 

25 cannot be successfully resisted without the united politi- 
cal action of all good men. 

^'Resolved, That the citizens of the United States 
hold in their hands peaceful, constitutional, and efficient 
remedy against the encroachments of the slave power, — 

30 the ballot box ; and if that remedy is boldly and wisely 
applied, the principles of liberty and eternal justice will 
be established. 

''Resolved, That we accept this issue forced upon us 
by the slave power, and, in defence of freedom, will co- 



142 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

operate and be known as Eepublicans, pledged to the 
accomplishment of the following purposes: — 

*^To bring the Administration of the Government 
back to the control of first principles ; to restore Kansas 
and Nebraska to the position of Free Territories ; to 5 
repeal and entirely abrogate the Fugitive Slave law; to 
restrict slavery to those States in which it exists; to 
prohibit the admission of any more Slave States into 
the Union; to exclude slavery from all the Territories 
over which the General Government has exclusive juris- lo 
diction; and to resist the acquisition of any more Ter- 
ritories, unless the introduction of slavery therein for- 
ever shall have been prohibited. 

"Resolved, That in furtherance of these principles 
we will use such constitutional and lawful means as shall 15 
seem best adapted to their accomplishment, and that we 
will support no man for office under the General or 
State Government who is not positively committed to 
the support of these principles, and whose personal char- 
acter and conduct is not a guarantee that he is reliable, 20 
and shall abjure all party allegiance and ties. 

"Resolved, That we cordially invite persons of all 
former political parties whatever, in favor of the object 
expressed in the above resolutions, to unite with us in 
carrying them into effect." 25 

Well, you think that is a very good platform, do you 
not? If you do, if you approve it now, and think it is 
all right, you will not join with those men who say I 
libel you by calling these your principles, will you? 
Now, Mr. Lincoln complains ; Mr. Lincoln charges that so 
I did you and him injustice by saying that this was the 
platform of your party. I am told that Washburne 
made a speech in Galena last night, in which he abused 
me awfully for bringing to light this platform, on which 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 143 

he was elected to Congress. He thought that you had 
forgotten it, as he, and Mr. Lincoln desires too. He 
did not deny but that you had* adopted it, and that he 
had subscribed to and was pledged by it, but he did 

5 not think it was fair to call it up and remind the people 
that it was their platform. 

But I am glad to find that you are more honest in 
your Abolitionism than your leaders, by avowing that it 
is your platform, and right in your opinion. 

10 In the adoption of that platform, you not only de- 
clared that you would resist the admission of any more 
Slave States, and work for the repeal of the Fugitive 
Slave law, but you pledged yourselves not to vote for 
any man for State or Federal offices who was not com- 

13 mitted to these principles. You were thus committed. 
Similar resolutions to those were adopted in your county 
Convention here, and now with your admissions that 
they are your platform and embody your sentiments 
now as they did then, what do you think of Mr. Lin- 

20 coin, your candidate for the United States Senate, who 
is attempting to dodge the responsibility of this plat- 
form, because it was not adopted in the right spot. I 
thought that it was adopted in Springfield ; but it turns 
out it was not, that it was adopted at Eockford, and in 

25 the various counties which comprise this Congressional 
District. When I get into the next district, I will show 
that the same platform was adopted there, and so on 
through the State, until I nail the responsibility of it 
upon the Black Republican party throughout the State. 

30 A voice : Couldn't you modify, and call it brown ? 
Mr. Douglas : Not a bit. I thought that you were 
becoming a little brown when your members in Congress 
voted for the Crittenden-Montgomery bill ; but since you 



]44 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

have backed out from that position and gone back to 
Abolitionism you are black, and not brown. 

Gentlemen, I have shown you what your platform was 
in 1854. You still adhere to it. The same platform 
was adopted by nearly all the counties where the Black 5 
Republican party had a majority in 185-i. I wish now 
to call your attention to the action of your representa- 
tives in the Legislature when they assembled together at 
Springfield. In the fii*st place, .you must remember 
that this was the organization of a new party. It is so lo 
declared in the resolutions themselves, which say that 
you are going to dissolve all old party ties and call the 
new party Republican. The old Whig party was to 
have its throat cut from ear to ear, and the Democratic 
party was to be annihilated and blotted out of existence, 15 
whilst in lieu of these parties the Black Republican 
party was to be organized on this Abolition platform. 
You know who the chief leaders were in breaking up 
and destroying these two great parties. Lincoln on the 
one hand, and Trumbull on the other, being disap- 20 
pointed politicians, and having retired or been driven 
to obscurity by an outraged constituency because of their 
political sins, formed a scheme to Abolitionize the two 
parties, and lead the old line Whigs and old line Demo- 
crats captive, bound hand and foot, into the Abolition 25 
camp. Giddings, Chase, Fred Douglass, and Lovejoy 
were here to christen them whenever they were brought 
in. Lincoln went to work to dissolve the old line Whig 
party. Clay was dead ; and although the sod was not 
yet green on his grave, this man undertook to bring into so 
disrepute those great Compromise measures of 1850, 
with which Clay and Webster were identified. Up to 
1854 the old Whig party and the Democratic party had 
stood on a common platform so far as this slavery ques- 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 145 

tion was concerned. You Whigs and we Democrats dif- 
fered about the bank, the tariff, distribution, the specie 
circular, and the sub-treasury, but we agreed on this 
slavery question, and the true mode of preserving the 

5 peace and harmony of the Union. The Compromise 
measures of 1850 were introduced by Clay, were de- 
fended by Webster, and supported by Cass, and were ap- 
proved by Filmore, and sanctioned by the National men 
of both parties. They constituted a common plank 

10 upon which both Whigs and Democrats stood. In 1852 
the Whig party, in its last National Convention at Bal- 
timore, indorsed and approved these measures of Clay, 
and so did the National Convention of the Democratic 
party held that same year. Thus the old line Whigs 

15 and the old line Democrats stood pledged to the great 
principle of self-government, which guarantees to the 
people of each Territory the right to decide the slavery 
question for themselves. In 1854, after the death of 
Clay and Webster, Mr. Lincoln, on the part of the 

20 Whigs, undertook to Abolitionize the Whig party, by 
dissolving it, transferring the members into the Aboli- 
tion camp, and making them train under Giddings, 
Fred Douglass, Lovejoy, Chase, Farnsworth, and other 
Abolition leaders. Trumbull undertook to dissolve the 

25 Democratic party by taking old Democrats into the 
Abolition camp. Mr. Lincoln was aided in his efforts 
by many leading Whigs throughout the State, your mem- 
ber of Congress, Mr. Washburne, being one of the most 
active. Trumbull was aided by many renegades from 

30 the Democratic party, among whom were John Went- 
worth, Tom Turner, and others, with whom you are 
familiar. 

[Mr. Turner^ who was one of the moderators, here 



146 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

interposed, and said that he had drawn the resolutions 
which Senator Douglas had read.] 

Mr. Douglas: Yes, and Turner savs that he drew 
these resolutions. ["Hurrah for Turner," "Hurrah for 
Douglas."] That is right; give Turner cheers for 5 
drawing the resolutions if you approve them. If he 
drew those resolutions, he will not deny that they are 
the creed of the Black Republican party. 

Mr. Turner : They are our creed exactly. 

Mr. Douglas : And yet Lincoln denies that he stands w 
on them. Mr. Turner says that the creed of the Black 
Eepublican party is the admission of no more Slave 
States, and vet Mr. Lincoln declares that he would not 
like to be placed in a position where he would have to 
vote for them. All I have to say to friend Lincoln is, 15 
that I do not think there is much danger of his being 
placed in such an embarrassing position as to be obliged 
to vote on the admission of any more Slave States, I 
propose, out of mere kindness, to relieve him from any 
such necessity. 20 

When the bargain between Lincoln and Trumbull was 
completed for Abolitionizing the Whig and Democratic 
parties, they "spread" over the State, Lincoln still pre- 
tending to be an old line Whig, in order to "rope in" 
the Whigs, and Trumbull pretending to be as good a 25 
Democrat as he ever was, in order to coax the Democrats 
over into the Abolition ranks. They played the part 
that "decoy ducks" play down on the Potomac River. 
In that part of the country they make artificial ducks, 
and put them on the water in places where the wild 30 
ducks are to be found, for the purpose of decoying them. 
Well, Lincoln and Trumbull played the part of these 
"decoy ducks," and deceived enough old line Whigs and 
old line Democrats to elect a Black Republican Legisla- 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE I47 

ture. When that Legislature met, the first thing it did 
was to elect as Speaker of the House the very man who 
is now boasting that he wrote the Abolition platform on 
which Lincoln will not stand. I want to know of Mr. 

5 Turner whether or not, when he was elected, he was a 
good embodiment of Republican principles? 

Mr. Turnek: I hope I was then, and am now. 
Mr. Douglas : He swears that he hopes he was then, 
and is now. He wrote that Black Republican platform, 

10 and is satisfied with it now. I admire and acknowledge 
Turner^s honesty. Every man of you knows that what 
he says about these resolutions being the platform of the 
Black Republican party is true, and you also know that 
each one of these men who are shuffling and trying to 

15 deny it are only trying to cheat the people out of their 
votes for the purpose of deceiving them still more after 
the election. I propose to trace this thing a little 
further, in order that you can see what additional evi- 
dence there is to fasten this revolutionary platform upon 

20 the Black Republican party. When the Legislature 
assembled, there was a United States Senator to elect in 
the place of General Shields, and before they proceeded 
to ballot, Love joy insisted on laying down certain prin- 
ciples by which to govern the party. It has been pub- 

25 lished to the world and satisfactorily proven that there 
was, at the time the alliance was made between Trum- 
bull and Lincoln to abolitionize the two parties, an 
agreement that Lincoln should take Shields's place in 
the United States Senate, and Trumbull should have 

30 mine so soon as they could conveniently get rid of me. 
When Lincoln was beaten for Shields's place, in a man- 
ner I will refer to in a few minutes, he felt very sore 
and restive; his friends grumbled, and some of them 
came out and charged that the most infamous treachery 



148 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

had been practiced against him; that the bargain was 
that Lincoln was to have had Shields's place, and Trum- 
bull was to have waited for mine, but that Trumbull, 
having the control of a few Abolitionized Democrats, he 
prevented them from voting for Lincoln, thus keeping 5 
him within a few votes of an election until he succeeded 
in forcing the party to drop him and elect Trumbull. 
Well, Trumbull having cheated Lincoln, his friends 
made a fuss, and in order to keep them and Lincoln 
quiet, the party were obliged to come forward, in ad- lo 
vance, at the last State election, and make a pledge that 
they would go for Lincoln and nobody else. Lincoln 
could not be silenced in any other way. 

Now, there are a great many Black Republicans of 
you who do not know this thing was done. ["White, 15 
white," and great clamor.] I wish to remind you that 
while Mr. Lincoln was speaking there was not a Demo- 
crat vulgar and blackguard enough to interrupt him. 
But I know that the shoe is pinching you. I am clinch- 
ing Lincoln now, and you are scared to death for the 20 
result. I have seen this thing before. I have seen men 
make appointments for joint discussions, and the mo- 
ment their man has been heard, try to interrupt and pre- 
vent a fair hearing of the other side. I have seen your 
mobs before, and defy your wrath. [Tremendous ap- 25 
plause.] My friends, do not cheer, for I need my whole 
time. The object of the opposition is to occupy my at- 
tention in order to prevent me from giving the whole 
evidence and nailing this double dealing on the Black 
Eepublican party. As I have before said, Lovejoy de- so 
manded a declaration of principles on the part of the 
Black Republicans of the Legislature before going into 
an election for United States Senator. He offered the 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE I49 

following preamble and resolutions which I hold in my 
hand : 

"Whereas, Human slavery is a violation of the 
principles of natural and revealed rights; and whereas 

5 the fathers of the Eevolution, fully imbued with the 
spirit of these principles, declared freedom to be the 
inalienable birthright of all men; and whereas the pre- 
amble to the Constitution of the United States avers 
that that instrument was ordained to establish justice, 

10 and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
posterity; and whereas, in furtherance of the above 
principles, slavery was forever prohibited in the old 
Northwest Territory, and more recently in all that 
Territory lying w^est and north of the State of Missouri, 

15 by the act of the Federal Government ; and whereas the 
repeal of the prohibition last referred to was contrary 
to the wishes of the people of Illinois, a violation of 
an implied compact long deemed sacred by the citizens 
of the United States, and a wide departure from the 

20 uniform action of the General Government in relation 
to the extension of slavery; therefore, 

''Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the 
Senate concurring therein. That our Senators in Con- 
gress be instructed, and our Eepresentatives requested 

25 to introduce, if not otherwise introduced, and to vote 
for a bill to restore such prohibition to the aforesaid 
Territories, and also to extend a similar prohibition to 
all territory which now belongs to the United States, 
or which may hereafter come under their Jurisdiction. 

30 ''Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be in- 
structed, and our Eepresentatives requested, to vote 
against the admission of any State into the Union, the 
Constitution of which does not prohibit slavery, whether 
the territory out of which such State may have been 



150 AMERICAN TUBLIC ADDRESSES* 

formed shall have been acquired by conquest, treaty, 
purchase, or from original territory of the United 
States. 

"Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be in- 
structed, and our Representatives requested, to intro- 5 
duce and vote for a bill to repeal an Act entitled 'An 
Act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escap- 
ing from the service of their masters;' and, failing in 
that, for such a modification of it as shall secure the 
right of habeas corpus and trial by jury before the regn- lo 
larly constituted authorities of the State, to all persons 
claimed as owing service or labor." 

Those resolutions were introduced by Mr. Lovejoy 
immediately preceding the election of Senator. They 
declared, first, that the Wilmot Proviso must be applied 15 
to all territory north of 36 deg., 30 min. Secondly, 
that it must be applied to all territory south of 36 deg., 
30 min. Thirdly, that it must be applied to all the 
territory now owned by the United States ; and finally, 
that is must be applied to all territory hereafter to be 20 
acquired by the United States. The next resolution 
declares that no more Slave States shall be admitted 
into this Union under any circumstances whatever, no 
matter whether they are formed out of territory now 
owned by us or that we may hereafter acquire, by 25 
treaty, by Congress, or in any manner whatever. The 
next resolution demands the unconditional repeal of 
the Fugitive Slave law, although its unconditional re- 
peal would leave no provision for carrying out that 
clause of the Constitution of the United States which 30 
guarantees the surrender of fugitives. If they could 
not get an unconditional repeal, they demanded that 
that law should be so modified as to make it as nearly 
useless as possible. Now, I want to show you who 



d 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 151 

voted for these resolutions. When the vote was taken 
on the first resolution it was decided in the affirmative, 
— yeas 41, nays 32. You will find that this is a strict 
party vote, between the Democrats on the one hand, 

5 and the Black Eepublicans on the other. [Cries of 
"White, white," and clamor.] I know your name, and 
always call things by their right name. The point I 
wish to call your attention to is this : That these resolu- 
tions were adopted on the 7th day of February, and 

10 that on the 8th they went into an election for a United 
States Senator, and that day every man who voted for 
these resolutions, with but two exceptions, voted for 
Lincoln for the United States Senate. ["Give us their 
names."] I will read the names over to you if you 

15 want them, but I believe your object is to occupy 
my time. 

On the next resolution the vote stood — yeas 33, 
nays 40 ; and on the third resolution — yeas 35, nays 47. 
I wish to impress it upon you that every man who voted 

20 for those resolutions, with but two exceptions, voted 
on the next day for Lincoln for United States Senator. 
Bear in mind that the members who thus voted for 
Lincoln were elected to the Legislature pledged to vote 
for no man for office under the State or Federal Govern- 

25 ment who w^as not committed to this Black Republican 
platform. They were all so pledged. Mr. Turner, who 
stands by me, and who then represented you, and who 
says that he wrote those resolutions, voted for Lincoln, 
when he was pledged not to do so unless Lincoln was 

30 in favor of those resolutions. I now ask Mr. Turner 

[turning to Mr. Turner], did you violate your pledge 

in voting for Mr. Lincoln, or did he commit himself 

to your platform before you cast your vote for him? 

I could go through the whole list of names here. 



152 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

and show you that all the Black Republicans in the 
Legislature, who voted for Mr. Lincoln, had voted on 
the day previous for these resolutions. For instance, 
here are the names of Sargent and Little, of Jo Daviess 
and Carroll, Thomas J. Turner of Stephenson, Law- 5 
rence of Boone and McHenry, Swan of Lake, Pinckney 
of Ogle County, and Lyman of Winnebago. Thus you 
see every member from your Congressional District 
voted for Mr. Lincoln, and they were pledged not to 
vote for him unless he was committed to the doctrine 10 
of no more Slave States, the prohibition of slavery in 
the Territories, and the repeal of the Fugitive Slave 
law. Mr. Lincoln tells you to-day that he is not pledged 
to any such doctrine. Either Mr. Lincoln was then 
committed to those propositions, or Mr. Turner violated 15 
his pledges to you when he voted for him. Either 
Lincoln was pledged to each one of those propositions, 
or else every Black Eepublican Representative from this 
Congressional District violated his pledge of honor to 
his constituents by voting for him. I ask you which 20 
horn of the dilemma will you take? Will you hold 
Lincoln up to the platform of his party, or will you 
accuse every Representative you had in the Legislature 
of violating his pledge of honor to his constituents? 
There is no escape for you. Either Mr. Lincoln was 25 
committed to those propositions, or your members 
violated their faith. Take either horn of the dilemma 
you choose. There is no dodging the question; I want 
Lincoln's answer. He says he was not pledged to repeal 
the Fugitive Slave law, that he does not quite like to 30 
do it ; he will not introduce a law to repeal it, but thinks 
there ought to be some law; he does not tell what it 
ought to be ; upon the whole, he is altogether undecided, 
and don't know wliat to think or do. That is the 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE I53 

substance of his answer upon the repeal of the Fugitive 
Slave law. I put the question to him distinctly, whether 
he indorsed that part of the Black Eepublican platform 
which calls for the entire abrogation and repeal of the 

5 Fugitive Slave law. He answers, No ! that he does not 
indorse that; but he does not tell what he is for, or 
what he will vote for. His answer is, in fact, no 
answer at all. Why cannot he speak out, and say what 
he is for, and what he will do ? 

10 In regard to there being no more Slave States, he 
is not pledged to that. He would not like, he says, to 
be put in a position where he would have to vote one 
way or another upon that question. I pray you, do 
not put him in a position that would embarrass him so 

15 much. Gentlemen, if he goes to the Senate, he may 
be put in that position, and then which way will 
he vote? 
A Voice: How will you vote? 
Mr. Douglas : I will vote for the admission of just 

20 such a State as by the form of their Constitution the 
people show they want; if they want slavery, they shall 
have it; if they prohibit slavery, it shall be prohibited. 
They can form their institutions to please themselves, 
subject only to the Constitution; and I, for one, stand 

25 ready to receive them into the Union. Why cannot 
your Black Eepublican candidates talk out as plain as 
that when they are questioned ? 

I do not want to cheat any man out of his vote. 
No man is deceived in regard to my principles if I 

30 have the power to express myself in terms explicit 
enough to convey my ideas. 

Mr. Lincoln made a speech when he was nominated 
for the United States Senate which covers all these 
Abolition platforms. He there lays down a proposition 



154 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

SO broad in its Abolitionism as to cover the whole 
ground. 

"In my opinion it [the slavery agitation] will not 
cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 
*A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe 5 
this government cannot endure permanently, half slave 
and half free. I do not expect the house to fall, but 
I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become 
all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents 
of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place lo 
it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it 
is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates 
will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in 
all the States, — old as well as new, North as well as 
South." 15 

There you find that Mr. Lincoln lays down the doc- 
trine that this Union cannot endure divided as our 
fathers made it, with Free and Slave States. He says 
they must all become one thing, or all the other; that 
they must all be free or all slave, or else the Union 20 
cannot continue to exist; it being his opinion that to 
admit any more Slave States, to continue to divide 
the Union into Free and Slave States, will dissolve it. 
I want to know of Mr. Lincoln whether he will vote 
for the admission of another Slave State. 25 

•He tells you the Union cannot exist unless the States 
are all free or all slave; he tells you that he is opposed 
to making them all slave, and hence he is for making 
them all free, in order that the Union may exist; and 
yet he will not say that he will not vote against another 30 
Slave State, knowing that the Union must be dissolved 
if he votes for it. I ask you if that is fair dealing? 
The true intent and inevitable conclusion to be drawn 
from his first Springfield speech is, that he is opposed 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 155 

to the admission of any more Slave States under any 
circumstance. If he is so opposed, why not say so? 
If he believes this Union cannot endure divided into 
Free and Slave States, that they must all become free 

3 in order to save the Union, he is bound as an honest 
man to vote against any more Slave States. If he 
believes it, he is bound to do it. Show me that it is 
my duty, in order to save the Union, to do a particular 
act, and I will do it, if the Constitution does not pro- 

10 hibit it. I am not for the dissolution of the Union 
under any circumstances. I will pursue no course of 
conduct that will give just cause for the dissolution 
of the Union. The hope of the friends of freedom 
throughout the world rests upon the perpetuity of this 

15 Union. The downtrodden and oppressed people who 
are suffering under European despotism all look with 
hope and anxiety to the American Union as the only 
resting place and permanent home of freedom and 
self-government. 

20 Mr. Lincoln says that he believes that this Union 
cannot continue to endure with Slave States in it, and 
yet he will not tell you distinctly whether he will vote 
for or against the admission of any more Slave States, 
but says he would not like to be put to the test. I 

25 do not think he will be put to the test. I do not 
think that the people of Illinois desire a man to repre- 
sent them who would not like to be put to the test 
on the performance of a high constitutional duty. I 
will retire in shame from the Senate of the United 

30 States when I am not willing to be put to the test 
in the performance of my duty. I have been put to 
severe tests. I have stood by my principles in fair 
weather and in foul, in the sunshine and in the rain. 
I have defended the great principles of self-government 



156 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

here among you when Northern sentiment ran in a 
torrent against me, and I have defended that same 
great principle when Southern sentiment came down 
like an avalanche upon me. I was not afraid of any 

5 test they put to me. I knew I was right ; I knew my 
principles were sound; I knew that the people would 
see in the end that I had done right, and I knew that 
the God of heaven would smile upon me if I was 
faithful in the performance of my duty. 

10 Mr. Lincoln makes a charge of corruption against the 
Supreme Court of the United States, and two Presi- 
dents of the United States, and attempts to bolster it 
up by saying that I did the same against the Washing- 
ton "Union." Suppose I did make that charge of 

15 corruption against the Washington "Union," when it 
was true, does that justify him in making a false charge 
against me and others? That is the question I would 
put. He says that at the time the Nebraska bill was 
introduced, and before it was passed, there was a con- 

20 spiracy between the Judges of the Supreme Court, 
President Pierce, President Buchanan, and myself, by 
that bill and the decision of the court to break down 
the barrier and establish slavery all over the Union. 
Does he not know that that charge is historically false 

25 as against President Buchanan ? He knows that Mr. 
Buchanan was at that time in England, representing 
this country with distinguished ability at the Court of 
St. James, that he was there for a long time before, 
and did not return for a year or more after. He knows 

30 that to be true, and that fact proves his charge to be 
false as against Mr. Buchanan. Then, again, I wish 
to call his attention to the fact that at the time the 
Nebraska bill was passed, the Dred Scott case was not 
before the Supreme Court at all ; it was not upon the 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE I57 

docket of the Supreme Court; it had not been brought 
there; and the Judges in all probability knew nothing 
of it. Thus the history of the country proves the 
charge to be false as against them. As to President 

5 Pierce, his high character as a man of integrity and 
honor is enough to vindicate him from such a charge; 
and as to myself, I pronounce the charge an infamous 
lie, whenever and wherever made, and by whomsoever 
made. I am willing that Mr. Lincoln should go and 

10 rake up every public act of mine, every measure I 
have introduced, report I have made, speech delivered, 
and criticise them; but when he charges upon me a 
corrupt conspiracy for the purpose of perverting the 
institutions of the country, I brand it as it deserves. 

15 I say the history of the country proves it to be false, 
and that it could not have been possible at the time. 
But now he tries to protect himself in this charge, 
because I made a charge against the Washington 
"Union." My speech in the Senate against the Wash- 

20 ington "Union" was made because it advocated a revolu- 
tionary doctrine, by declaring that the Free States had 
not the right to prohibit slavery within their own limits. 
Because I made that charge against the Washington 
"Union," Mr. Lincoln says it was a charge against Mr. 

25 Buchanan. Suppose it was : Is Mr. Lincoln the peculiar 
defender of Mr. Buchanan? Is he so interested in the 
Federal Administration, and so bound to it, that he 
must jump to the rescue and defend it from every 
attack that I may make against it? I understand the 

30 whole thing. The Washington "Union," under that 
most corrupt of all men, Cornelius Wendell, is advo- 
cating Mr. Lincoln's claim to the Senate. Wendell 
was the printer of the last Black Eepublican House of 
Representatives; he was a candidate before the present 



158 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

Democratic House, but was ignominiously kicked out; 
and then he took the money which he had made out of 
the public printing by means of the Black Kepublicans, 
bought the Washington "Union/' and is now publishing 
it in the name of the Democratic party, and advocating 5 
Mr. Lincoln's election to the Senate. Mr. Lincoln 
therefore considers an attack upon Wendell and his 
corrupt gang as a personal attack upon him. This 
only proves what I have charged, — that there is an 
alliance between Lincoln and his supporters, and the lo 
Federal office-holders of this State, and the Presidential 
aspirants out of it, to break me down at home. 

Mr. Lincoln feels bound to come in to the rescue of 
the Washington "Union." In that speech which I 
delivered in answer to the Washington "L^nion," I made 15 
it distinctly against the "Union," and against the 
"Union" alone. I did not choose to go beyond that. 
If I have reason to attack the President's conduct, I 
will do it in language that will not be misunderstood. 
When I differed with the President, I spoke out so that 20 
you all heard me. That question passed away; it re- 
sulted in the triumph of my principle, by allowing the 
people to do as they please; and there is an end of the 
controversy. Whenever the great principle of self-gov- 
ernment, — the right of the people to make their own 25 
Constitution, and come into the Union with slavery 
or without it, as they see proper, — -shall again arise, 
you will find me standing firm in defense of that princi- 
ple, and fighting whoever fights it. If Mr. Buchanan 
stands, as I doubt not he will, by the recommendation 3o 
contained in his ^Icssage, that hereafter all State Con- 
stitutions ought to be submitted to the people before 
the admission of the State into the Union, he will 
find me standing by him firmly, shoulder to shoulder. 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE I59 

in carrying it out. I know Mr. Lincoln's object: He 
wants to divide the Democratic party, in order that he 
may defeat me and get to the Senate. 

[Mr. Douglas's time here expired, and he stopped 
5 on the moment.] 

MR. LINCOLN'S REJOINDER 

My Friends — It will readily occur to you that I 
cannot, in half an hour, notice all the things that so 
able a man as Judge Douglas can say in an hour and 
a half; and I hope, therefore, if there be anything that 

10 he has said upon which you would like to hear some- 
thing from me, but which I omit to comment upon, 
you will bear in mind that it would be expecting an 
impossibility for me to go over his whole ground. I 
can but take up some of the points that he has dwelt 

15 upon, and employ my half-hour specially on them. 
The first thing I have to say to you is a word in 
regard to Judge Douglas's declaration about the "vul- 
garity and blackguardism" in the audience, — that no 
such thing, as he says, was shown by any Democrat 

20 while I was speaking. Now, I only wish, by way of 
reply on this subject, to say that while / was speaking, 
I used no "vulgarity or blackguardism" toward any 
Democrat. 

Now, my friends, I come to all this long portion of 

25 the Judge's speech, — perhaps half of it, — ^which he has 
devoted to the various resolutions and platforms that 
have been adopted in the different counties in the dif- 
ferent Congressional Districts, and in the Illinois Legis- 
lature, which he supposes are at variance with the posi- 

30 tions I have assumed before you to-day. It is true 
that many of these resolutions are at variance with the 
positions I have here assumed. All I have to ask is 



160 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

that we talk reasonably and rationally about it. I 
happen to know, the Judge's opinion to the contrary 
notwithstanding, that I have never tried to conceal my 
opinions, nor tried to deceive any one in reference to 

5 them. He may go and examine all the members who 
voted for me for United States Senator in 1855, after 
the election of 1854. They were pledged to certain 
things here at home, and were determined to have 
pledges from me; and if he will find any of these 

10 persons who will tell him anything inconsistent with 
what I say now, I will resign, or rather retire from 
the race, and give him no more trouble. The plain 
truth is this: At the introduction of the iSTebraska 
policy, we believed there was a new era being intro- 

15 duced in the history of the Eepublic, which tended to 
the spread and perpetuation of slavery. But in our 
opposition to that measure we did not agree with one 
another in everything. The people in the north end 
of the State were for stronger measures of opposition 

20 than we of the central and southern portions of the 
State, but we were all opposed to the Nebraska doctrine. 
We had that one feeling and that one sentiment in 
common. You at the north end met in your Conven- 
tions and passed your resolutions. We in the middle 

25 of the State and further south did not hold such Con- 
ventions and pass the same resolutions, although we 
had in general a common view and a common senti- 
ment. So that these meetings which the Judge has 
alluded to, and the resolutions he has read from, were 

30 local, and did not spread over the whole State. We- 
at last met together in 1856, from all parts of the 
State, and we agreed upon a common platform. You, 
who held more extreme notions, either yielded those 
notions, or, if not wholly yielding them, agreed to 



I 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 161 

yield them practically, for the sake of embodying the 
opposition to the measures which the opposite party 
were pushing forward at that time. We met you then, 
and if there was anything yielded, it was for practical 

5 purposes. We agreed then upon a platform for the 
party throughout the entire State of Illinois, and now 
we are all bound, as a party, to that platform. And I 
say here to you, if any one expects of me — in the case of 
my election — that I will do anything not signified by 

10 our Eepublican platform and my answers here to-day, I 
tell you very frankly that person will be deceived. I do 
not ask for the vote of any one who supposes that I 
have secret purposes or pledges that I dare not speak 
out. Cannot the Judge be satisfied? If he fears, in 

15 the unfortunate case of my election, that my going to 
Washington will enable me to advocate sentiments con- 
trary to those which I expressed when you voted for 
and elected me, I assure him that his fears are wholly 
needless and groundless. Is the Judge really afraid of 

20 any such thing? I'll tell you what he is afraid of. 
He is afraid we'll all pull together. This is what 
alarms him more than anything else. For my part, I 
do hope that all of us, entertaining a common sentiment 
in opposition to what appears to us a design to na- 

25 tionalize and perpetuate slavery, will waive minor dif- 
ferences on questions which either belong to the dead 
past or the distant future, and all pull together in this 
struggle. What are your sentiments? If it be true 
that on the ground which I occupy — aground which I 

30 occupy as frankly and boldly as Judge Douglas does 
his, — my views, though partly coinciding with yours, 
are not as perfectly in accordance with your feelings as 
his are, I do say to you in all candor, go for him, and 
not for me. I hope to deal in all things fairly with 



162 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

Judge Douglas, and with the people of the State, in 
this contest. And if I should never be elected to any 
office, I trust I may go down with no stain of falsehood 
upon my reputation, notwithstanding the hard opinions 
Judge Douglas chooses to entertain of me. 5 

The Judge has again addressed himself to the Aboli- 
tion tendencies of a speech of mine made at Springfield 
in June last. I have so often tried to answer what he 
is always saying on that melancholy theme that I almost 
turn with disgust from the discussion, — from the repeti- lo 
tion of an answer to it. I trust that nearly all of this 
intelligent audience have read that speech. If you have, 
I may venture to leave it to you to inspect it closely, 
and see whether it contains any of those "bugaboos" 
which frighten Judge Douglas. 15 

The Judge complains that I did not fully answer his 
questions. If I have the sense to comprehend and 
answer those questions, I have done so fairly. If it 
can be pointed out to me how I can more fully and 
fairly answer him, I aver I have not the sense to see 20 
how it is to be done. He says, I do not declare I 
would in any event vote for the admission of a Slave 
State into the Union. If I have been fairly reported, 
he will see that I did give an explicit answer to his 
interrogatories ; I did not merely say that I would 25 
dislike to be put to the test, but I said clearly, if I 
were put to the test, and a Territory from which 
slavery had been excluded should present herself with 
a State Constitution sanctioning slavery, — a most 
extraordinary thing, and wholly unlikely to happen, — 30 
I did not see how I could avoid voting for her admis- 
sion. But he refuses to understand tliat I said so, and 
he wants this audience to understand that I did not say 



1 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 163 

SO. Yet it will be so reported in the printed speech that 
he cannot help seeing it. 

He says if I should vote for the admission of a 
Slave State I would be voting for a dissolution of the 

5 Union, because I hold that the Union cannot perma- 
nently exist half slave and half free. I repeat that I 
do not believe this government can endure permanently 
half slave and half free; yet I do not admit, nor does 
it at all follow, that the admission of a single Slave State 

10 will permanently fix the character and establish this 
as a universal slave nation. The Judge is very happy 
indeed at working up these quibbles. Before leaving 
the subject of answering questions, I aver as my con- 
fident belief, when you come to see our speeches in print, 

15 that you will find every question which he has asked 
me more fairly and boldly and fully answered than he 
has answered those which I put to him. Is not that 
so? The two speeches may be placed side by side, and 
I will venture to leave it to impartial judges whether 

20 his questions have not been more directly and cir- 
cumstantially answered than mine. 

Judge Douglas says he made a charge upon the 
editor of the Washington "Union,^' alone, of enter- 
taining a purpose to rob the States of their power to 

25 exclude slavery from their limits. I undertake to say, 
and I make the direct issue, that he did not make 
his charge against the editor of the "Union" alone. I 
will undertake to prove by the record here that he made 
that charge against more and higher dignitaries than 

30 the editor of the Washington "Union.'' I am quite 
aware that he was shirking and dodging around the 
form in which he put it, but I can make it manifest 
that he leveled his "fatal blow'^ against more persons 
than this Washington editor. Will he dodge it now 



164 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

by alleging that I am trying to defend Mr. Buchanan 
against the charge? Not at all. Am I not making 
the same charge myself ? I am trying to show that you, 
Judge Douglas, are a witness on my side. I am not 
defending Buchanan, and I will tell Judge Douglas 5 
that in my opinion, when he made that charge, he had 
an eye farther north than he was to-day. He was then 
fighting against people who called him a Black Repub- 
lican and an Abolitionist. It is mixed all through his 
speech, and it is tolerably manifest that his eye was a 10 
great deal farther north than it is to-day. The Judge 
says that though he made this charge, Toombs got up 
and declared there was not a man in the United States, 
except the editor of the "Union," who was in favor 
of tlie doctrines put forth in that article. And there- 15 
upon I understand that the Judge withdrew the charge. 
Although he had taken extracts from the newspaper, 
and then from the Lecompton Constitution, to show 
the existence of a conspiracy to bring about a "fatal 
blow," by which the States were to be deprived of the 20 
right of excluding slavery, it all went to pot as soon 
as Toombs got up and told him it was not true. It 
reminds me of the story that John Phoenix, the Cali- 
fornia railroad surveyor tells. He says they started 
out from the Plaza to the Mission of Dolores. They 25 
had two ways of determining distances. One was by 
a chain and pins taken over the ground. The other 
was by a "go-it-ometer," — an invention of his own, — 
a three-legged instrument, with which he computed a 
series of triangles between the points. At night he 30 
turned to the chain-man to ascertain what distance they 
had come, and found that by some mistake he had 
merely dragged the chain over the ground without 
keeping any record. By the "go-it-ometer" he found 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 165 

he had made ten miles. Being skeptical about this, he 
asked a drayman who was passing how far it was to 
the Plaza. The drayman replied it was just half a 
mile; and the surveyor put it down in his book, — ^just 

5 as Judge Douglas says, after he had made his calcu- 
lations and computations, he took Toombs's statement. 
I have no doubt that after Judge Douglas had made 
his charge, he was as easily satisfied about its truth 
as the surveyor was of the drayman's statement of the 

10 distance to the Plaza. Yet it is a fact that the man 
who put forth all that matter which Douglas deemed a 
^^fatal blow" at State sovereignty, was elected by the 
Democrats as public printer. 

Now, gentlemen, you may take Judge Douglas's speech 

15 of March 22, 1858, beginning about the middle of 
page 21, and reading to the bottom of page 24, and 
you will find the evidence on which I say that he did 
not make his charge against the editor of the "Union" 
alone. I cannot stop to read it, but I will give it to 

20 the reporters. Judge Douglas said : 

"Mr. President, you here find several distinct propo- 
sitions advanced boldly by the Washington 'Union' edi- 
torially, and apparently authoritatively, and every man 
who questions any of them is denounced as an Aboli- 

25 tionist, a Free-soiler, a fanatic. The propositions are, 
first, that the primary object of all government at its 
original institution is the protection of persons and 
property; second, that the Constitution of the United 
States declares that the citizens of each State shall be 

30 entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens 
in the several States; and that, therefore, thirdly, all 
State laws, whether organic or otherwise, which prohibit 
the citizens of one State from settling in another with 
their slave property, and especially declaring it for- 



166 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

felted, are direct violations of the original intention 
of the Government and Constitution of the United 
States; and, fourth, that the emancipation of the slaves 
of the Northern States was a gross outrage on the 
rights of property, inasmuch as it was involuntarily 5 
done on the part of the owner. 

"Eemember that this article was published in the 
'Union' on the 17th of November, and on the 18th 
appeared the first article, giving the adhesion of the 
'Union' to the Lecompton Constitution. It was in 10 
these words: 

" 'Kansas and her Constitution. — The vexed ques- 
tion is settled. The problem is solved. The dead point 
of danger is passed. All serious trouble to Kansas 
affairs is over and gone — ^ 15 

"And a column, nearly, of the same sort. Then, 
when you come to look into the Lecompton Constitu- 
tion, you find the same doctrine incorporated in it 
which was put forth editorially in the 'Union.' What 
is it? 20 

"'Article 7, Section 1. The right of property is 
before and higher than any constitutional sanction ; and 
the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its 
increase is the same and as invariable as the right of 
the owner of any property whatever.' 25 

"Then in the schedule is a provision that the Con- 
stitution may be amended after 1864 by a two-thirds 
vote. 

"' But no alteration shall be made to affect the right 
of property in the ownership of slaves.' ^ 

"It will be seen by these clauses in the lecompton 
Constitution that they are identical in spirit with this 
authoritative article in the Wasliington 'Union' of the 
day previous to its endorsement of this Constitution. 



SECOND JOINT DEBATE 167 

"When I saw that article in the ^Union' of the 17th 
of November, followed by the glorification of the Le- 
compton Constitution on the 18th of November, and 
this clause in the Constitution asserting the doctrine 

5 that a State has no right to prohibit slavery within 

its limits, I saw that there was a fatal blow being 

struck at the sovereignty of the States of this Union." 

Here he says, "Mr. President, you here find several 

distinct propositions advanced boldly, and apparently 

10 authoritatively/' By whose authority, Judge Douglas? 
Again, he says in another place, "It will be seen by 
these clauses in the Lecompton Constitution that they 
are identical in spirit with this authoritative article." 
By whose authority ? Who do you mean to say author- 

15 ized the publication of these articles ? He knows that 
the Washington "Union" is considered the organ of 
the Administration. I demand of Judge Douglas hy 
whose authority he meant to say those articles were 
published, if not by the authority of the President of 

20 the United States and his Cabinet ? I defy him to 
show whom he referred to, if not to these high func- 
tionaries in the Federal Government. More than this, 
he says the articles in that paper and the provisions 
of the Lecompton Constitution are "identical," and, 

25 being identical, he argues that the authors are co-oper- 
ating and conspiring together. He does not use the 
word "conspiring," but what other construction can you 
put upon it? He winds up with this: 

"When I saw that article in the 'Union' of the 17th 

30 of November, followed by the glorification of the Le- 
compton Constitution on the 18th of November, and 
this clause in the Constitution asserting the doctrine 
that a State has no right to prohibit slavery within its 



168 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

limits, I saw that there was a fatal Mow being struck at 
the sovereignty of the States of the Union." 

I ask him if all this fuss was made over the editor 
of this newspaper. It would be a terribly ''fatal blow'' 
indeed which a single man could strike, when no Presi- 5 
dent, no Cabinet officer, no member of Congress, was 
giving strength and efficiency to the moment. Out 
of respect to Judge Douglas's good sense I must believe 
he didn't manufacture his idea of the "fatal" character 
of that blow out of such a miserable scapegrace as he 10 
represents that editor to be. But the Judge's e3'e is 
farther south now. Then, it was very peculiarly and 
decidedly north. His hope rested on the idea of visit- 
ing the great "Black Eepublican" party, and making 
it the tail of his new kite. He knows he was then 15 
expecting from day to day to turn Eepublican, and 
place himself at the head of our organization. He has 
found that these despised "Black Eepublicans" estimate 
him by a standard which he has taught them none too 
well. Hence he is crawling back into his old camp, 20 
and you will find him eventually installed in full fel- 
lowship among those whom he was then battling, and 
with whom he now pretends to be at such fearful 
variance. [Loud applause, and cries of "Go on, go 
on."] I cannot, gentlemen; my time has expired." 25 



SECESSION" 

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS 

Georgia State Convention, January, 1861 

Mr. President — This step of secession, once taken, 
can never be recalled; and all the baleful and withering 
consequences that must follow, will rest on the con- 
vention for all coming time. ¥/hen we and our posterity 

5 shall see our lovely South desolated by the demon of 
war, which this act of yours will inevitably invite and 
call forth; when our green fields of waving harvest 
shall be trodden down by the murderous soldiery and 

. fiery car of war sweeping over our land; our temples 

10 of justice laid in ashes ; all the horrors and desolation 
of war upon us; who but this Convention will be held 
responsible for it? And who but him who shall have 
given his vote for this unv/ise and ill-timed measure, 
as I honestly think and believe, shall be held to strict 

15 account for this suicidal act by the present generation, 
and probably cursed and execrated by posterity for all 
coming time, for the wide and desolating ruin that will 
inevitably follow this act you now propose to perpetrate ? 
Pause, I entreat you, and consider for a moment what 

20 reasons you can give, that will even satisfy yourselves 
in calmer moments — ^what reason you can give to your 
fellow-sufferers in the calamity that it will bring upon 
us. What reasons can you give to the nations of the 
earth to justify it? They will be the calm and 

25 deliberate judges in the case ; and what cause or one 
overt act can you name or point, on which to rest the 

169 



170 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

plea of justification? What right has the North as- 
sailed? What interest of the South has been invaded? 
What justice has been denied? And what claim founded 
in justice and right has been withheld? Can either 
of you to-day name one governmental act of wrong, 5 
deliberately and purposely done by the government of 
Washington, of which the South has a right to com- 
plain? I challenge the answer. While, on the other 
hand, let me show the facts, of which I wish you to 
judge, and I will only state facts which are clear and 10 
undeniable, and which now stand as records authentic 
in the history of our country. When we of the South 
demanded the slave-trade, or the importation of Afri- 
cans for the cultivation of our lands, did they not 
yield the right for twenty years ? When we asked a 15 
three-fifths representation in Congress for our slaves, 
was it not granted? When we asked and demanded 
the return of any fugitive from justice, or the recovery 
of those persons owing labor or allegiance, was it not 
incorporated in the Constitution, and again ratified and 20 
strengthened by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850? But 
do you reply that in many instances they have violated 
this compact, and have not been faithful to their en- 
gagements? As individual and local communities, they 
may have done so ; but not by the sanction of govern- 25 
ment; for that has always been true to Southern in- 
terests. Again, gentlemen, look at another act; when 
we have asked that more territory should be added, 
that we might spread the institution of slavery, have 
they not yielded to our demands in giving us Louisiana, 30 
Florida, and Texas? From these, four States have 
been carved, and ample territory for four more is to 
be added in due time, if you, by this unwise and im- 



SECESSION 171 

politic act, do not destroy this hope, and, perhaps, by 
it lose all, and have your last slave wrenched from 
you by stern military rule, as South America and 
Mexico were; or by the vindictive decree of a universal 

5 emancipation which may reasonably be expected to 
follow. 

But, again, gentlemen, what have we to gain by this 
proposed change of our relation to the general govern- 
ment? We have always had the control of it, and can 

10 yet, if we remain in it, and are as united as we have 
been. We have had a majority of the Presidents chosen 
from the South, as well as the control and management 
of most of those chosen from the North. We have had 
sixty years of Southern Presidents to their twenty-four, 

15 thus controlling the executive department. So of the 
judges of the Supreme Court, we have had eighteen 
from the South and but eleven from the North; 
although nearly four-fifths of the judicial business has 
arisen in the free states, yet a majority of the Court 

20 has always been from the South. This we have required 
so as to guard against any interpretation of the Con- 
stitution unfavorable to us. In like manner we have 
been equally watchful to guard our interests in the 
legislative branch of government. In choosing the 

25 presidents of the Senate, we have had twenty-four to 
their eleven. Speakers of the House we have twenty- 
three, and they twelve. While the majority of the 
representatives, from their greater population, have 
always been from the North, yet we have generally 

30 secured the Speaker, because he, to a great extent, 
shapes and controls the legislation of the country. Nor 
have we had less control in every other department of 
the general government. Attorney-generals we have 



172 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

had fourteen, while the North have had but five. For- 
eign ministers we have had eighty-six and they but fifty- 
four. While three-fourths of the business which de- 
mands diplomatic agents abroad is clearly from the free 

5 states, from their greater commercial interest, yet we 
have had the principal embassies, so as to secure the 
world-markets for our cotton, tobacco, and sugar on the 
best possible terms. We have had a vast majority of 
the higher offices of both army and navy, while a larger 

10 proportion of the soldiers and sailors were drawn from 
the North. Again, from official documents, we learn 
that a fraction over three-fourths of the revenue col- 
lected for the support of the government has uniformly 
been raised from the North. 

15 Leaving out of view, for the present, the countless 
millions of dollars you must expend in a war with the 
North ; with tens of thousands of your sons and brothers 
slain in battle, and offered up as sacrifices upon the 
altar of your ambition — and for what, we ask again? 

20 Is it for the overthrow of the American government, 
established by our common ancestry, cemented and built 
up by their sweat and blood, and founded on the broad 
principles of right, justice, and humanity? And as 
such, I must declare here, as I have often done before, 

25 and which has been repeated by the greatest and wisest 
of statesmen and patriots, in this and other lands, that 
it is the best and freest government — the most equal 
in its rights, the most just in its decisions, the most 
lenient in its measures, and the most aspiring in its 

30 principles, to elevate the race of men, that the sun of 
heaven ever shone upon. Now, for you to attempt to 
overthrow such a government as this, under which we 
have lived for more than three-quarters of a century — 
in which we have gained our wealth, our standing as 



fl 



SECESSION 173 

a nation, our domestic safety, while the elements of peril 
are around us, with peace and tranquillity accompanied 
with unbounded prosperity and rights unassailed — is 
the height of madness, folly, and wickedness, to which 
5 I neither lend my sanction nor my vote. 



AT INDEPENDENCE HALL 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Philadelphia, Feb. 21, 1861 

I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself 
standing here in this place, where were collected together 
the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle 
from which sprang the institutions under which we 
live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my 5 
hands is the task of restoring peace to the present dis- 
tracted condition of the country. I can say in return, 
sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have 
been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw 
them, from the sentiments which originated in and 10 
were given to the world from this hall. I have never 
had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the 
sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. I have often pondered over the dangers which 
were incurred by the men who assembled here, and 15 
framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. 
I have pondered over the toils that were endured by 
the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that 
independence. I have often inquired of myself what 
great principle or idea it was that kept this confederacy 20 
so long together. It was not the mere matter of the 
separation of the colonies from the mother-land, but 
that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence 
which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this 
country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time. 25 
It was that which gave promise that in due time the 

174 



AT INDEPENDENCE HALL I75 

weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. 
This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of 
Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be 
saved upon that basis ? If it can, I will consider myself 

5 one of the happiest of men in the world if I can help 
to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, 
it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be 
saved without giving up that principle, I was about 
to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than 

10 surrender it. Now, in my view of the present aspect 
of affairs, there need be no bloodshed or war. There is 
no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course ; 
and I may say in advance that there will be no blood- 
shed unless it be forced upon the government, and then 

15 it will be compelled to act in self-defense. 

My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and 
I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when 
I came here. I supposed it was merely to do something 
towards raising the flag — I may, therefore, have said 

20 something indiscreet. I have said nothing but what 
I am willing to live by, and if it be the pleasure of 
Almighty God, die by. 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
March 4, 1861 

Fellow Citizens of the United States — In com- 
pliance with a custom as old as the government itself, 
I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take 
in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution 
of the United States to be taken by the President 5 
'^before he enters on the execution of his office." 

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to 
discuss those matters of administration about which 
there is no special anxiety or excitement. 

Apprehension seems to exist, among the people of the lo 
Southern States, that by the accession of a republican 
administration their property and their peace and per- 
sonal security are to be endangered. There has never 
been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. In- 
deed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all 15 
the while existed and been open to their inspection. 
It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him 
who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of 
those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, 
directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution 20 
of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I 
have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination 
to do so." Those who nominated and elected me did 
so with full knowledge that I had made this and many 
similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And 25 
more than this, they placed in the platform for my ac- 

176 



FIKST INAUGUKAL ADDEESS 177 

ceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the 
clear and emphatic resolution which I now read: — 

'^Resolved — That the maintenance inviolate of the 
rights of the states, and especially the right of each 

5 state to order and control its own domestic institutions 
according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential 
to the balance of power on which the perfection and 
endurance of our political fabric depend, and we de- 
nounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil 

10 of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, 
as among the gravest of crimes." 

I now reiterate these sentiments; and, in doing so, 
I only press upon the public attention the most con- 
clusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that 

15 the property, peace, and security of no section are to 
be in any wise endangered by the now incoming admin- 
istration. I add, too, that all the protection which, 
consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be 
given, will be cheerfully given to all the states, when 

20 lawfully demanded, for whatever cause — as cheerfully 
to one section as to another. 

There is much controversy about the delivering up 
of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now 
read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any 

25 other of its provisions : — 

"No person held to service or labor in one state, 
under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, 
in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be 
discharged from such service or labor, but shall be 

30 delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
or labor may be due." 

It is scarcely questioned that this provision was in- 
tended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what 
we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the law- 



178 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

giver is the law. All members of Congress swear their 
Gupport to the whole Constitution — to this provision 
as much as any other. To the proposition, then, that 
slaves, whose cases come within the terms of this clause, 
"shall be delivered up," their oaths are unanimous. 5 
Now, if they w^ould make the effort in good temper, 
could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and 
pass a law by means of which to keep good that unani- 
mous oath? 

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause lo 
should be enforced by national or by state authority; 
but surely that difference is not a very material one. 
If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little 
consequence to him, or to others, by which authority 
it is done. And should any one, in any case, be content 15 
that his oath shall go unkept, on a mere unsubstantial 
controversy as to how it shall be kept? 

Again, in any law upon the subject, ought not all 
the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and human 
Jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be 20 
not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? And might 
it not be well, at the same time, to provide by law for 
the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution 
which guarantees that "the citizens of each state shall 
be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens 25 
in the several states?" 

I shall take the official oath to-day with no mental 
reservation, and with no purpose to construe the Con- 
stitution or laws by any hypercritical rule. And while 
I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Con- so 
gress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will 
be much safer for all, both in official and private sta- 
tions, to conform to and abide by all those acts which 
stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting 



FIKST INAUGUEAL ADDEESS 179 

to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitu- 
tional. 

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of 
a president under our national constitution. During 

5 that period, fifteen different and greatly distinguished 
citizens have, in succession, administered the executive 
branch of the government. They have conducted it 
through many perils, and generally with great success. 
Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I now enter 

10 upon the same task for the brief constitutional term 
of four years, under great and peculiar difficulty. A 
disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only 
menaced, is now formidably attempted. 

I hold that, in contemplation of universal law, and 

15 of the Constitution, the union of these states is per- 
petual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the 
fundamental law of all national governments. It is 
safe to assert that no government proper ever had a 
provision in its organic law for its own termination. 

20 Continue to execute all the express provisions of our 
national government, and the Union will endure for- 
ever — it being impossible to destroy it, except by some 
action not provided for in the instrument itself. 

Again, if the United States be not a government 

25 proper, but an association of states in the nature of con- 
tract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade 
by less than all the parties who made it ? One party to 
a contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does 
it not require all to lawfully rescind it? 

30 Descending from these general principles, we find the 
proposition that, in legal contemplation, the Union is 
perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. 
The Union is much older than the Constitution. It 
was formed in fact, by the articles of association in 



180 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

1774. It was matured and continued by the Declara- 
tion of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, 
and the faith of all the then thirteen states expressly 
plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the 
articles of confederation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787, i 
one of the declared objects for ordaining and establish- 
ing the Constitution was *Ho form a more perfect 
Union." 

But if destruction of the Union, by one, or by a part 
only, of the states, be lawfully possible, the Union is lo 
less perfect than before, the Constitution having lost 
the vital element of perpetuity. 

It follows, from these views, that no state upon its 
own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union; 
that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally 1'6 
void ; and that acts of violence within any state or states, 
against the authority of the United States, are insurrec- 
tionary, or revolutionary, according to circumstances. 

I, therefore, consider that, in view of the Constitu- 
tion and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and to the 20 
extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitu- 
tion itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of 
the Union be faithfully executed in all the states. Doing 
this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part; and 
I shall perform it, so far as practicable, unless my right- 25 
ful masters, the American people, shall withhold the re- 
quisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct 
the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a 
menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union 
that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself, so 

In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence ; 
and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the 
national authority. The power confided to me will be 
used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places 



FIRST INAUGUEAL ADDRESS 181 

belonging to the government, and to collect the duties 
and imposts; but beyond what may be but necessary for 
these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of 
force against or among the people anywhere. Where 

5 hostility to the United States in any interior locality 
shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent 
resident citizens from holding the federal offices, there 
will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among 
the people for that object. While the strict legal right 

10 may exist in the government to enforce the exercise of 
these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, 
and so nearly impracticable withal, I deem it better to 
forego, for the time, the uses of such offices. 

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be fur- 

15 nished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the 
people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect secur- 
ity which is most favorable to calm thought and reflec- 
tion. The course here indicated will be followed, unless 
current events and experience shall show a modification 

20 or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency 
my best discretion will be exercised, according to cir- 
cumstances actually existing, and with a view and a 
hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and 
the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. 

25 That there are persons in one section or- another who 
seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of 
any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny; but 
if there be such, I need address no word to them. To 
those, however, who really love the Union, may I not 

30 speak ? 

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruc- 
tion of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its 
memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascer- 
tain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so des- 



182 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

perate a step wliile there is any possibility that any por- 
tion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? 
AVill you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater 
than all the real ones you fly from — will you risk the 
commission of so fearful a mistake? 5 

All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitu- 
tional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that 
any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been 
denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so 
constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of lo 
doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in 
which a plainly written provision of the Constitution 
has ever been denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, 
a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly 
written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point 15 
of view, justify revolution — certainly would if such a 
right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All 
the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so 
plainly assured to them by affirmation and negations, 
guarantees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that 20 
controversies never arise concerning them. But no or- 
ganic law can ever be framed witli a provision specifical- 
ly applicable to every question which may occur in prac- 
tical administration. Xo foresight can anticipate, nor 
any document of reasonable length contain, express pro- 25 
visions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from 
labor be surrendered by national or by state authority? 
The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress 
prohibit slavery in the territories? The Constitution 
does not expressly say. IJust Congress protect slavery 30 
in the territories? The Constitution does not expressly 
say. 

From questions of this class spring all our constitu- 
tional controversies, and we divide upon them into ma- 



FIBST INAUGUEAL ADDRESS 183 

jorities and minorities. If the minority will not ac- 
quiesce, the majority must, or the government must 
cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing 
the government is acquiescence on one side or the other. 

5 If a minority in such case will secede rather than ac- 
quiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, will 
divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own will 
secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be 
controlled by such minority. For instance, why may 

10 not any portion of a new confederacy, a year or two 
hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of 
the present Union now claim to secede from it? All 
who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated 
to the exact temper of doing this. 

15 Is there such perfect identity of interests among the 
states to compose a new Union, as to produce harmony 
only, and prevent renewed secession? 

Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of 
anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional 

20 checks and limitations, and always changing easily with 
deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, 
is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever 
rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to des- 
potism. Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minor- 

25 ity, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible ; 
so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or des- 
potism, in some form, is all that is left. 

I do not forget the position assumed by some, that 
constitutional questions are to be decided by the Su- 

30 preme Court ; nor do I deny that such decisions must 
be binding, in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to 
the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to 
very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases, 
by all other departments of the government. And while 



184 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

it is obviously possible that such decisions may be errone- 
ous in any given case, still, the evil effect following it 
being limited to that particular case, with the chance 
that it may be overruled, and never become a precedent 
for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils 5 
of a different practice. At the same time, the candid 
citizen must confess that if the policy of the government 
upon vital questions affecting the whole people, is to be 
irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the 
instant they are made in ordinary litigation between 10 
parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased 
to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically 
resigned their government into the hands of that emi- 
nent tribunal. 

Nor is there in this view any assault upon the Court 15 
or the Judges. It is a duty from which they may not 
shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, 
and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their 
decisions to political purposes. One section of our 
country believes slavery is right, and ought to be ex- 20 
tended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought 
not to be extended. This is the only substantial dis- 
pute. The fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, 
and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave- 
trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law 25 
can ever be in a community where the moral sense of 
the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The 
great body of the people abide by the dry legal obliga- 
tion in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, 
I think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would be 30 
worse, in both cases, after the separation of the sections 
than before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly 
suppressed, would be ultimately revived, without restric- 
tion, in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only 



FIRST INAUGUEAL ADDRESS 185 

partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all 
by the other. 

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot 
remove our respective sections from each other, nor 

5 build an impassable wall between them. A husband 
and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence 
and beyond the reach of each other; but the different 
parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but 
remain face to face; and intercourse, either amicable or 

10 hostile, must continue between them. It is impossible 
then to make that intercourse more advantageous or 
more satisfactory after separation than before. Can 
aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? 
Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens 

15 than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, 
you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on 
both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the 
identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are 
again upon you. 

20 This country, with its institutions, belongs to the 
people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary 
of the existing government, they can exercise their con- 
stitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary 
right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignor- 

25 ant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens 
are desirous of having the National Constitution 
amended. While I make no recommendation of amend- 
ment, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the 
people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either 

30 of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself, and I 
should, under existing circumstances, favor, rather than 
oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the people to 
act upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the con- 
vention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amend- 



186 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

ments to originate with the people themselves, instead 
of only permitting them to take or reject propositions 
originated by others, not especially chosen for the pur- 
pose, and which might not be precisely such as they 
would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a 5 
proposed amendment to the Constitution — which amend- 
ment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, 
to the effect that the Federal Government shall never 
interfere with the domestic institutions of the states, in- 
cluding that of persons held to service. To avoid mis- lo 
construction of what I have said, I depart from my pur- 
pose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as 
to say that, holding such a provision now to be implied 
constitutional law, I have no objections to its being 
made express and irrevocable. 15 

The chief magistrate derives all his authority from 
the people, and they have conferred none upon him to 
fix terms for the separation of the states. The people 
themselves can do this also if they choose ; but the execu- 
tive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to 20 
administer the represent government as it came to his 
hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his 
successor. 

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the 
ultimate justice of the people ? Is there any better or 25 
equal hope in the world ? In our present differences, is 
either party without faith of being in the right? If 
the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with his eternal truth 
and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours 
of the South, that truth and that justice will surely so 
prevail, by the judgment of this great tribunal of the 
American people. 

By the frame of the government under which we live, 
the same people have wisely given their public servants 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 187 

but little power for mischief and have with equal wis- 
dom, provided for the return of that little to their own 
hands at very short intervals. While the people retain 
their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any 

5 extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure 
the government in the short space of four years. 

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well 
upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost 
by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of 

10 you in hot haste to a step which you would never take 
deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking 
time ; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such 
of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old Consti- 
tution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws 

15 of your own framing under it ; while the new adminis- 
tration will have no immediate power, if it would, to 
change either. If it were admitted that you who are 
dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still 
is no single good reason for precipitate action. In- 

20 telligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance 
on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, 
are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our 
present difficulty. 

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, 

25 and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. 
The government will not assail you. 

You can have no conflict without being yourselves the 
aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to 
destroy the government while I shall have the most sol- 

30 emn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it. 

I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but 
friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion 
may have strained, it must not break our bonds of 
affection. 



188 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

The mystic chord of memor}-, stretching from every 
battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and 
hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the 
chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they 
will be, by the better angels of our nature. 5 



LETTEK TO HOEACE GEEELEY 

abeaham lincol]^ 

Executive Mansion. 

Washington, August 22, 1862. 
Hon. Horace Greeley: 

Dear Sir: — I have just read yours of the 19th, ad- 
dressed to myself through the New York Tribune. If 
there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact 
which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and 
here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences 
which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not, now 
and here, argue against them. If there be perceptible 
in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in 
deference to an old friend whose heart I have always 
supposed to be right. 

As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, 
I have not meant to leave anyone in doubt. 

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest 
way under the constitution. The sooner the national 
authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be 
the "Union as it was." If there be those who would 
not save the Union unless they could at the same time 
save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be 
those who would not save the Union unless they could 
at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with 
them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save 
the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. 
If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I 
would do it; and if I could do it by freeing all the 
slaves, I would do it: and if I could save it by freeing 

189 



190 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. 
What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do be- 
cause I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I 
forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help 
to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall be- 
lieve what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do 
more whenever I shall believe that doing more will help 
the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to 
be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they 
shall appear to be true views. 

I have stated my purpose according to my view of 
official duty; and I intend no modifications of my oft- 
expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could 
be free. Yours, 

A. Lincoln. 



SPEECH AT GETTYSBUKG 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
November 19, 1863 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in 
liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil 

5 war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so con- 
ceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met 
on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to 
dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place 
for those who here gave their lives that that nation 

10 might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we 
should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedi- 
cate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this 
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled 
here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or 

15 detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, 
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did 
here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated 
here to the unfinished work which they who fought here 
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us 

20 to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before 
us, that from these honored dead we take increased de- 
votion to that cause for which they gave the last full 
measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that 
these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this nation, 

25 under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that 
government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people, shall not perish from the earth. 

191 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
March 4, 1865 

Fellow-Countrymen — At this second appearing to 
take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occa- 
sion for an extended address than there was at the 
first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course 
to be pursued seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at 5 
the expiration of four j-ears, during which public 
declarations have been constantly called forth on every 
point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs 
the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, 
little that is new could be presented. 10 

The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly 
depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, 
and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encourag- 
ing to all. With high hope for the future, no predic- 
tion in regard to it is ventured. 15 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, 
all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending 
civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avoid it. While 
the inaugural address was being delivered from this 
place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without 20 
w^ar, insurgent agents were in the city, seeking to de- 
etroy it with war — seeking to dissolve the Union and 
divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties depre- 
cated war, but one of them would make war rather than 
let the nation survive, and the other would accept war 25 
rather than let it perish, and the war came. One-eighth 

192 



SECOND INAUGUKAL ADDKESS 193 

of the whole population were colored slaves, not dis- 
tributed generally over the Union, but localized in the 
southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar 
and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was 

5 somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetu- 
ate, and extend this interest was the object for which 
the insurgents would rend the Union by war, while the 
Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict 
the territorial enlargement of it. 

10 Neither party expected for the war the magnitude 
or the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease, 
even before the conflict itself should cease. Bach looked 
for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental 

15 and astounding. 

Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, 
and each invokes His aid against the other. It may 
seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just 
God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat 

20 of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not 
judged. The prayer of both could not be answered. 
That of neither has been answered fully. The 
Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world 
because of offences, for it must needs be that offences 

25 come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. 
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these 
offences which, in the providence of God, must needs 
come, but which having continued through His ap- 
pointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives 

30 to both North and South this terrible war as the woe 
due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern 
there any departure from those Divine attributes which 
the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? 
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this 



194 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if 
God wills that it continue until alh the wealth piled by 
the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unre- 
quited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with 5 
the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so, still 
it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are true 
and righteous altogether. 

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with 
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, lo 
let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's 
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, 
and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may 
achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among 
ourselves and with all nations. 15 



LAST PUBLIC ADDEESS 

BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN" 

Washington, April 11, 1865. 

We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness 
of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Eichmond, 
and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give 
hope of a righteous and speedy peace, whose Joyous ex- 

5 pression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this^ 
however. He from whom all blessings flow must not be 
forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being 
prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must 
those whose harder part, gives us the cause of rejoicing 

10 be overlooked. Their honors must not be parceled out 
with others. I myself was near the front, and had the 
high pleasure of transmitting much of the good news 
to you; but no part of the honor for plan or execution 
is mine. To General Grant, his skilful officers and 

15 brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood ready, 
but was not in reach to take active part. 

By these recent successes the reinauguration of the 
national authority — reconstruction — which has had a 
large share of thought from the first, is pressed much 

20 more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with 
great difficulty. Unlike a case of war between inde- 
pendent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to 
treat with — ^no one man has authority to give up the 
rebellion for any other man. We simply must begin 

25 with and mold from disorganized and discordant ele- 
ments. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment 
that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to 

195 



196 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

the mode, manner and measure of reconstruction. As 
a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of 
attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that 
to which I cannot properly offer an answer. In spite of 
this precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that 5 
I am much censured for some supposed agency in setting 
up and seeking to sustain the new State government of 
Louisiana. 

In this I have done just so much as, and no more than, 
the public knows. In the annual message of December, lo 
1863, and in the accompanying proclamation, I presented 
a plan of reconstruction, as the phrase goes, which I 
promised, if adopted by any State, should be acceptable 
to and sustained by the executive government of the 
nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the only is 
plan which might possibly be acceptable, and I also dis- 
tinctly protested that the executive claimed no right to 
say when or whether members should be admitted to 
seats in Congress from such States. This plan was in 
advance submitted to the then Cabinet, and distinctly 20 
approved by every member of it. One of them suggested 
that I should then and in that connection apply the 
Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore excepted 
parts of Virginia and Louisiana ; that I should drop the 
suggestion about apprenticeship for freed people, and 25 
that I should omit the protest against my own power 
in regard to the admission of members to Congress. But 
even he approved every part and parcel of the plan 
which has since been employed or touched by the action 
of Louisiana. so 

The new constitution of Louisiana, declaring emanci- 
pation for tlie whole State, practically applies the procla- 
mation to the part previously excepted. It does not 
adopt apprenticeship for freed people, and it is silent. 



LAST PUBLIC ADDEESS 197 

as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission 
of members to Congress. So that, as it applies to Louis- 
iana, every member of the Cabinet fully approved the 
plan. The message went to Congress, and I received 

5 many commendations of the plan, written and verbal, 
and not a single objection to it from any professed eman- 
cipationist came to my knowledge until after the news 
reached Washington that the people of Louisiana had 
begun to move in accordance with it. From about July, 

10 1862, I had corresponded with different persons sup- 
posed to be interested [in] seeking a reconstruction of a 
State government for Louisiana. When the message of 
1863, with the plan before mentioned, reached New Or- 
leans, General Banks wrote me that he was confident 

15 that the people, with his military cooperation, would re- 
construct substantially on that plan. I wrote to him 
and some of them to try it, They tried it, and the 
result is known. Such has been my only agency in get- 
ting up the Louisiana government. 

20 As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before stated. 
But as bad promises are better broken than kept, I shall 
treat this as a bad promise, and break it whenever I shall 
be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public in- 
terest; but I have not yet been so convinced. I have 

25 been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an 
able one, in which the writer expresses regret that my 
mind has not seemed to be definitely fixed on the ques- 
tion whether the seceded States, so called, are in the 
Union or out of it. It would perhaps add astonishment 

30 to his regret were he to learn that since I have found 
professed Union men endeavoring to make that question, 
I have purposely forborne any public expression upon it. 
As appears to me, that question has not been, nor yet is, 
a practically material one, and that any discussion of it, 



198 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

while it thus remains practically immaterial, could have 
no effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our 
friends. As yet, whatever it may hereafter become, that 
question is bad as the basis of a controversy, and good 
for nothing at all — a merely pernicious abstraction. 5 

We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out 
of their proper practical relation with the Union, and 
that the sole object of the government, civil and mili- 
tary, in regard to those States is to again get them into 
that proper practical relation. I believe that it is not ic 
only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without decid- 
ing or even considering whether tliese States have ever 
been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves 
safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whetlier 
they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the i') 
acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations 
between these States and the Union, and each forever 
after innocently indulge his own opinion whether in 
doing the acts he brought the States from without into 
the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they 20 
never having been out of it. The amount of constitu- 
ency, so to speak, on which the new Louisiana govern- 
ment rests, would be more satisfactory to all if it con- 
tained 50,000, or 30,000, or even 20,000, instead of 
only about 12,000, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory 25 
to some that the elective franchise is not given to the 
colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now 
conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve 
our cause as soldiers. 

Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana gov- so 
ernment, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The 
question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help 
to improve it, or to reject and disperse it? Can Tjouis- 
iana be brouglit into proper practical relation witli the 



LAST PUBLIC ADDEESS 199 

Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new 
State government ? Some twelve thousand voters in the 
heretofore slave State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance 
to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power 

5 of the State, held elections, organized a State govern- 
ment, adopted a free Stat-e constitution, giving the bene- 
fit of public schools equally to black and white, and em- 
powering the legislature to confer the elective franchise 
upon the colored man. Their legislature has already 

10 voted to ratify the constitutional amendment recently 
passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout the 
nation. These 12,000 persons are thus fully committed 
to the Union and to perpetual freedom in the State — 
committed to the very things, and nearly all the things, 

15 the nation wants — and they ask the nation's recognition 
and its assistance to make good their committal. 

Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost 
to disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to 
the white man: You are worthless or worse; we will 

20 neither help you, nor be helped by you. To the blacks 
we say : This cup of liberty which these, your old mas- 
ters, hold to your lips we will dash from you, and leave 
you to the chances of gathering the spilled and scattered 
contents in some vague and undefined when, where, and 

25 how. If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both 
white and black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana 
into proper practical relations with the Union, I have 
so far been unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, 
we recognize and sustain the new government of Louis- 

30 iana, the converse of all this is made true. We encour- 
age the hearts and nerve the arms of the 12,000 to 
adhere to their work, and argue for it, and proselyte for 
it, and fight for it, and feed it, and grow it, and ripen it 
to a complete success. The colored man, too, in seeing 



200 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy, 
and daring, to the same end. Grant that he desires the 
elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving 
the already advanced steps toward it than by running 
backward over them ? Concede that the new govern- 5 
ment of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the 
egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by 
hatching the egg than by smashing it. 

Again, if we reject Louisiana we also reject one vote 
in favor of the proposed amendment to the national Con- lo 
stitution. To meet this proposition it has been argued 
that no more than three-fourths of those States which 
have not attempted secession are necessary to validly 
ratify the amendment. I do not commit myself against 
this further than to say that such a ratification would 15 
be questionable, and sure to be persistently questioned, ' 
while a ratification by three-fourths of all the States 
would be unquestioned and unquestionable. I repeat 
the question: Can Louisiana be brought into proper 
practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or 20 
by discarding her new State government? What has 
been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other 
States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each 
State, and such important and sudden changes occur 
in the same State, and withal so new and unprecedented 25 
is the whole case that no exclusive and inflexible plan 
can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. 
Such exclusive and inflexible plan would surely become 
a new entanglement. Important principles may and 
must be inflexible. In the present situation, as the so 
phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new an- 
nouncement to tlie people of the South. I am consider- 
ing, and sliall not fail to act when satisfied that action 
will be proper. 



ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 

From "The Spectator/' London, April 25, and 

May 2, 1891 



The English-speaking world will never read the story 
of the Rebellion without a thrill of pride and exultation. 
Heroic and inspiring as was the achievement of the 
Puritans in throwing off the tyranny of the Stuarts, 

5 and establishing in its place, not license or anarchy, 
but a wise and liberal polity, the veiling hand of time 
diminishes for modem men its distinctness and reality. 
With the defense of the Union it is different. We can 
almost hear the reverberations of the cannon at Vicks- 

10 burg, and our hands may still clasp the hands of those 
who fought for the life of the Nation at Gettysburg 
and Chattanooga. The glory won by the English race 
is so near, that it still stirs the blood like a trumpet 
to read of the patriotism of the men who fought at 

15 the call of Lincoln. Nothing is more admirable, as 
nothing is more dramatic in recorded history, than 
the manner in which the North sprang to arms at the 
news that the nation's flag had been fired on at Fort 
Sumter. It is all very well to hire soldiers at so much 

20 a day and send them to the front with salutes and re- 
joicings, but the action of the Eastern and Western 
States meant a great deal more than this. It meant a 
voluntary sacrifice on the part of men who had nothing 
to gain and everything to lose by throwing over a life 

25 of ease or profit to shoulder a musket or serve a gun. 
A continent was on fire. 

201 



202 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

It is one of the greatest of Lincoln's claims to ad- 
miration, that though he sympathized with the fervor 
and enthusiasm of his countrymen, he was not carried 
away by it. He was one of those rare men who can at 
once be zealous and moderate, who are kindled by great 5 
ideas, and who yet retain complete control of the -critical 
faculty. And more than this, Lincoln was a man who 
could be reserved without the chill of reserve. Again, 
he could make allowance for demerits in a principle or 
a human instrument, without ever falling into the pur- lo 
blindness of cynicism. He often acted in his dealings 
with men much as a professed cynic might have acted; 
but his conduct was due, not to any disbelief in virtue, 
but to a wide tolerance and a clear knowledge of human 
nature. He saw things as a disillusionised man sees 15 
them, and yet in the bad sense he never suffered any 
disillusionment. For suffusing and combining his other 
qualities was a serenity of mind which affected the whole 
man. He viewed the world too much as a whole to be 
greatly troubled or perplexed over its accidents. To this 20 
serenity of mind was due an almost total absence of 
indignation in the ordinary sense. Generals might half- 
ruin the cause for the sake of some trumpery quarrel, 
or in order to gain some petty personal advantage ; office- 
seekers might worry at the very crisis of the nation's 25 
fate ; but none of the pettiness, the spites, or the follies 
could rouse in Lincoln the impatience or the indigna- 
tion that would have been wakened in ordinary men. 
Pity, and nothing else, was the feeling such exhibitions 
occasioned him. Lincoln seems to have felt the excuse 30 
that tempers the guilt of every mortal transgression. 
His largeness and tenderness of nature made him at 
heart a universal apologist. He was, of course, too 
practical and too great a statesman to let this sensibility 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 203 

to the excuses that can be made for human conduct in- 
duce him to allow misdeeds to go unpunished or un- 
corrected. He acted as firmly and as severely as if he 
had experienced the most burning indignation; but the 

5 moment we come to Lincoln's real feelings, we see that 
he is never incensed, and that, even in its most legitimate 
form, the desire for retribution is absent from his mind. 
Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner, was the secret 
of his attitude towards human affairs. That is not the 

10 highest wisdom ; but it errs on the right, and also on the 
rare, side. 

So much for the intellectual side of Lincoln's nature. 
Behind it was a personality of singular charm. Tender- 
ness and humor were its main characteristics. As he 

15 rode through a forest in spring-time, he would keep 
on dismounting to put back the young birds that had 
fallen from their nests. There was not a situation in 
life which could not afford him the subject for a kindly 
smile. It needed a character so full of gentleness and 

20 good temper to sustain the intolerable weight of re- 
sponsibility which the war threw upon the shoulders of 
the President. Most men would have been crushed by 
the burden. His serenity of temper saved Lincoln. 
Except when the miserable necessity of having to sign 

25 the order for a military execution took away his sleep, 
he carried on his work without any visible sign of over- 
strain. Not the least of Lincoln's achievements is 
to be found in the fact that though for four years he 
wielded a power and a personal authority greater than 

30 that exercised by any monarch on earth, he never gave 
satirist or caricaturist the slightest real ground for de- 
claring that his sudden rise to world-wide fame had 
turned the head of the backwoodsman. Under the cir- 
cumstances, there would have been every excuse for 



204 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

Lincoln, had he assumed to his subordinates somewhat 
the bearing of the autocrat he was. It is a sign of 
the absolute sincerity and good sense of the President 
that he was under no sort of a temptation to do so. 
Lincoln was before all things a gentleman, and the good 5 
taste inseparable from that character made it impos- 
sible for him to be spoiled by power and position. This 
grace and strength of character is never better shown 
than in the letters to his generals, victorious or de- 
feated. When they were beaten, he was anxious to share lo 
the blame; when victorious, he was instant to deny by 
anticipation any rumor that he had inspired the strategy 
of the campaign. If a general had to be reprimanded, 
he did it as only the most perfect of gentlemen could 
do it. He could convey the severest censure without in- 15 
flicting any wound that would not heal, and this not 
by using roundabout expressions, but in the plainest 
language. "He writes to me like a father," were the 
heart-felt words of a commander who had been reproved 
by the President. Throughout these communications, 20 
the manner in which he not only conceals, but alto- 
gether sinks, all sense that the men to whom they 
were addressed were, in effect, his subordinates, is 
worthy of special note. "A breath could make them, 
as a breath had made," and yet Lincoln writes as if 25 
his generals were absolutely independent. 

We have said something of Lincoln as a man and 
as the leader of a great cause. We desire now to dwell 
upon a point which is often neglected in considering the 
career of the hero of the Union, but which, from the so 
point of view of letters, is of absorbing interest. No 
criticism of Mr. Lincoln can be in any sense adequate 
which does not deal with his astonishing power over 
words. It is not too much to say of him that he is 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 205 

among the greatest masters of prose ever produced by 
the English race. Self-educated, or rather not educated 
at all in the ordinary sense, as he was, he contrived to 
obtain an insight and power in the handling of the 

5 mechanism of letters such as has been given to few men 
of his, or, indeed, in any age. That the gift of oratory 
should be a natural gift, is understandable enough, for 
the methods of the orator, like those of the poet, are 
primarily sensuous, and may well be instinctive. Mr. 

10 Lincoln's achievement seems to show that no less is the 
writing of prose an endowment of Nature. Mr. Lincoln 
did not get his ability to handle prose through his 
gift of speech. That these are separate, though co- 
ordinate, faculties, is a matter beyond dispute, for many 

15 of the great orators of the world have proved them- 
selves exceedingly inefficient in the matter of deliberate 
composition. Mr. Lincoln enjoyed both gifts. His let- 
ters, dispatches, memoranda, and written addresses are 
even better than his speeches; and in speaking thus of 

20 Mr. Lincoln's prose, we are not thinking merely of 
certain pieces of inspired rhetoric. We do not praise 
his work because, like Mr. Bright, he could exercise 
his power of coining illuminating phrases as effectively 
upon paper as on the platform. It is in his conduct of 

25 the pedestrian portions of composition that Mr. Lin- 
coln's genius for prose style is exhibited. Mr. Bright's 
writing cannot claim to answer the description which 
Hazlitt has given of the successful prose-writer's per- 
formance. Mr. Lincoln's can. What Hazlitt says is 

30 complete and perfect in definition. He tells us that the 
prose-writer so uses his pen "that he loses no particle 
of the exact characteristic extreme impression of the 
thing he writes about;" and with equal significance he 
points out that "the prose-writer is master of his ma- 



206 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

terials," as "the poet is the slave of his style." If 
these words conve}^ a true definition, then Mr. Lincoln 
is a master of prose. "Whatever the subject he has in 
hand, whether it be bald or impassioned, business-like 
or pathetic, we feel that we "lose no particle of the 5 
exact characteristic extreme impression" of the thing 
written about. We have it all, and not merely a part. 
Every line shows that the writer is master of his ma- 
terials; that he guides the words, never the words him. 
This is, indeed, the predominant note throughout all lo 
Mr. Lincoln's work. We feel that he is like the en- 
gineer who controls some mighty reservoir. As he de- 
sires, he opens the various sluice-gates, but for no in- 
stant is the water not under his entire control. We 
are sensible in reading Mr. Lincoln's writings, that an 15 
immense force is gathered up behind him, and that in 
each jet that flows, every drop is meant. Some writers 
only leak; others half flow through determined chan- 
nels, half leak away their words like a broken lock 
when it is emptying. The greatest, like Mr. Lincoln, 20 
send out none but clear-shaped streams. 

The "Second Inaugural" — a written composition, 
though read to the citizens from the steps of the Capi- 
tol — well illustrates our words. Mr. Lincoln had to tell 
his countrymen, that, after four years' struggle, the war 25 
was practically ended. The four years' agony, the pas- 
sion of love which he felt for his country, his joy in 
her salvation, his sense of tenderness for those who fell, 
of pity mixed with sternness for the men who had 
deluged the land with blood, — all the thoughts these 30 
feelings inspired were behind Lincoln pressing for ex- 
pression. A writer of less power would have been over- 
whelmed. Lincoln remained master of the emotional 
and intellectual situation. In three or four hundred 



ABBAHAM LINCOLN 207 

words that burn with the heat of their compression, 
he tells the history of the war and reads its lesson. No 
nobler thoughts were ever conceived. No man ever 
found words more adequate to his desire. Here is the 

5 whole tale of the nation's shame and misery, of her 
heroic struggles to free herself therefrom, and of her 
victory. Had Lincoln written a hundred times as much 
more, he could not have said more fully what he desired 
to say. Every thought receives its complete expression 

10 and there is no word employed which does not directly 
and manifestly contribute to the development of the 
central thought. 

As an example of Lincoln's more familiar style, we 
may quote from that inimitable series of letters to his 

15 generals to which we made allusion on a former oc- 
casion. The following letter was addressed to General 
Hooker on his being appointed to command the Army 
of the Potomac, after mismanagement and failure had 
made a change of generals absolutely necessary: — 

20 * ' I hare placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. 
Of course I have done this upon what appears to me to be 
sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that 
there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satis- 
fied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, 

25 wli.ich, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics 
with your profession, in which you are right. You have con- 
fidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable, 
quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, 
does good rather than harm; but I think that, during General 

30 Burnside 's command of the army, you have taken counsel of 
your ambition, and thwarted him as much as you could, in 
which you did a great wrong to the country and to a most 
meritorious and honorable brother-officer. I have heard, in 
such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both 

35 the army and the Government needed a dictator. Of course, it 



^08 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the 
command. Only those generals who gain successes can set up 
dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I 
will risk the dictatorship. The Government will support you to 
the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than 5 
it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that 
the spirit, which you have aided to infuse into the army, of 
criticising their commander and withholding confidence from 
him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I 
can to put it down. Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were 10 
alive again, could get any good out of an army while such a 
spirit prevails in it. And now beware of rashness. Beware 
of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward 
and give us victories.*' 

It is possible that this letter may sound too severe in is 
tpne when read without the context. If, however, the 
condition of the army at the time, and the intrigues 
of the various commanders are considered, it will be 
recognized as erring in no way on the side of harsh- 
ness. The irony is particularly delightful, and in no 20 
sense forced. . . . 



THE SCHOLAR IN A EEPUBLIC 

WENDELL PHILLIPS 

Phi Beta Kappa Centennial, Harvard, June 30, 1881 

Mr. President and Brothers of the P. B. K. — A hun- 
dred years ago our society was planted, — a slip from the 
older root in Virginia. The parent seed, tradition says, 
was French, — part of that conspiracy for free speech 
5 whose leaders prated democracy in the salons, while they 
•carefully held on to the flesh-pots of society by crouch- 
ing low to kings and their mistresses, and whose final 
object of assault was Christianity itself. Voltaire gave 
the watchword, — 

10 ' ' Crush the wretch. ' ' 

^'j^crasez I'infame." 

No matter how much or how little truth there may be 
in the tradition ; no matter what was the origin or what 
was the object of our society, if it had any special one, — 

15 both are long since forgotten. We stand now simply a 
representative of free, brave, American scholarship. I 
emphasize American scholarship. 

In one of those glowing, and as yet unequalled pict- 
ures which Everett drew for us, here and elsewhere, of 

20 Revolutionary scenes, I remember his saying, that the 
independence we then won, if taken in its literal and 
narrow sense, was of no interest and little value; but, 
construed in the fulness of its real meaning, it bound us 
to a distinctive American character and purpose, to a 

25 keen sense of large responsibility, and to a generous self- 

209 



210 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

devotion. It is under the shadow of such unquestioned 
authority that I use the term "American scholarship/' 

Our society was, no doubt, to some extent, a protest 
against the sombre theology of New England, where, a 
hundred years ago, the atmosphere was black with ser- 5 
mons, and where religious speculation beat uselessly 
against the narrowest limits. 

The first generation of Puritans — though Lowell does 
let Cromwell call them "a small colony of pinched fanat- 
ics" — included some men, indeed not a few, worthy to 10 
walk close to Eoger Williams and Sir Harry Vane, — 
the two men deepest in thought and bravest in speech 
of all who spoke English in their day, and equal to^ 
any in practical statesmanship. Sir Harry Vane, in my 
judgment the noblest human being who ever walked the 15 
streets of yonder city, — I do not forget Franklin or 
Sam Adams, Washington or Fayette, Garrison or John 
Brown, — but Vane dwells an arrow's flight above them 
all, and his touch consecrated the continent to measure- 
less toleration of opinion and entire equality of rights. 20 
We are told we can find in Plato "all the intellectual 
life of Europe for two thousand years ;" so you can find 
in Vane the pure gold of two hundred and fifty years of 
American civilization, with no particle of its dross. 
Plato would have welcomed him to the Academy, and 25 
Fenelon kneeled with him at the altar. He made 
Somers and John Marshall possible ; like Carnot, he or- 
ganized victory; and Milton pales before him in the 
stainlessness of his record. He stands among English 
statesmen pre-eminently the representative, in practice so 
and in theory, of serene faith in the safety of trusting 
truth wholly to her own defence. For other men we 
walk backward, and throw over their memories the man- 
tle of charity and excuse, saying reverently, "Remember 



THE SCHOLAE IN A EEPUBLIC 211 

the temptation and the age," But Vane's ermine has 
no stain; no act of his needs explanation or apology; 
and in thought he stands abreast of our age, — like pure 
intellect, belongs to all time. 

5 Carlyle said, in years when his words were worth 
heeding, "Young men, close your Byron, and open your 
Goethe." If my counsel had weight in these halls, I 
should say, "Young men, close your John Winthrop and 
Washington, your Jefferson and Webster, and open Sir 

10 Harry Vane." The generation that knew Vane gave to 

our Alma Mater for a seal the simple pledge, — Veritas. 

But the narrowness and poverty of colonial life soon 

starved out this element. Harvard was rededicated 

Christo et Ecclesice; and up to the middle of the last 

15 century, free thought in religion meant Charles Chauncey 
and the Brattle-Street Church protest, while free 
thought hardly existed anywhere else. But a single 
generation changed all this. A hundred years ago there 
were pulpits that led the popular movement ; while out- 

20 side of religion and of what called itself literature, in- 
dustry and a jealous sense of personal freedom obeyed, 
in their rapid growth, the law of their natures. English 
common-sense and those municipal institutions born of 
the common law, and which had saved and sheltered it, 

25 grew inevitably too large for the eggshell of English de- 
pendence, and allowed it to drop off as naturally as the 
chick does when she is ready. There was no change 
of law, nothing that could properly be called revolu- 
tion, only noiseless growth, the seed bursting into flower, 

30 infancy becoming manhood. It was life, in its omnipo- 
tence, rending whatever dead matter confined it. So 
have I seen the tiny weeds of a luxuriant Italian spring 
upheave the colossal foundations of the Caesars' palace, 
and leave it a mass of ruins. 



212 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

But when the veil was withdrawn, what stood re- 
vealed astonished the world. It showed the undreamt 
power, the serene strength of simple manhood, free 
from the burden and restraint of absurd institutions in 
Church and State. The grandeur of this new Western 5 
constellation gave courage to Europe, resulting in the 
French Revolution, the greatest, the most unmixed, the 
most unstained and wholly perfect blessing Europe has 
had in modern times, unless we may possibly except the 
Reformation and the invention of printing. lo 

What precise effect that giant wave had when it struck 
our shore we can only guess. History is, for the most 
part, an idle amusement, the day-dream of pedants and 
triflers. The details of events, the actors' motives, and 
their relation to each other are buried with them. How 15 
impossible to learn the exact truth of what took place 
yesterday under your next neighbor's roof ! Yet, we 
complacently argue and speculate about matters a thou- 
sand miles off, and a thousand years ago, as if we knew 
them. When I was a student here, my favorite study 20 
was history. The world and affairs have shown me that 
one half of history is loose conjecture, and much of the 
rest is the writer's opinion. But most men see facts, 
not with their eyes, but with their prejudices. Any one 
familiar with courts will testify how rare it is for an 25 
honest man to give a perfectly correct account of a 
transaction. We are tempted to see facts as we think 
they ought to be, or wish they were. And yet journals 
are the favorite original sources of history. Tremble, 
my good friend, if your sixpenny neighbor keeps a 30 
journal. "It adds a new terror to death." You shall 
go down to your children not in your fair lineaments 
and proportions, but with the smirks, elbows, and angles 
he sees you with. Journals arc excellent to record the 



I 



THE SCHOLAE IN A REPUBLIC 213 

depth of the last snow and the date when the May- 
flower opens; but when you come to men's motives and 
characters, journals are the magnets that get near the 
chronometer of history and make all its records worth- 

5 less. You can count on the fingers of your two hands 
all the robust minds that ever kept Journals. Only milk- 
sops and fribbles indulge in that amusement, except 
now and then a respectable mediocrity. One such jour- 
nal nightmares New England annals, emptied into his- 

10 tory by respectable middle-aged gentlemen who fancy 
that narrowness and spleen, like poor wine, mellow into 
truth when they get to be a century old. But you 
might as well cite the Daily Advertiser of 1850 as au- 
thority on one of Garrison's actions. 

15 And, after all, of what value are these minutiae? 
Whether Luther's zeal was partly kindled by lack of 
gain from the sale of indulgences, whether Boston rebels 
were half smugglers and half patriots, what matters it 
now? Enough that he meant to wrench the gag from 

20 Europe's lips, and that they were content to suffer keen- 
ly, that we might have an untrammelled career. We 
can only hope to discover the great currents and mas- 
sive forces which have shaped our lives ; all else is trying 
to solve a problem of whose elements we know nothing. 

25 As the poet-historian of the last generation says so 
plaintively, "History comes like a beggarly gleaner in 
the field, after Death, the great lord of the domain, has 
gathered the harvest, and lodged it in his garner, which 
no man may open." 

30 But we may safely infer that French debate and ex- 
perience broadened and encouraged our fathers. To 
that we undoubtedly owe, in some degree, the theoreti- 
cal perfection, ingrafted on English practical sense and 
old forms, which marks the foundation of our republic. 



214 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

English civil life, up to that time, grew largely out of 
custom, rested almost wholly on precedent. For our 
model there was no authority in the record, no precedent 
on the file; unless you find it, perhaps, partially, in that 
Long Parliament bill with which Sir Harry Vane would 5 
have outgeneralled Cromwell, if the shameless soldier 
liad not crushed it with his muskets. 

Standing on Saxon foundations, and inspired, per- 
haps, in some degree by Latin example, we have done 
what no race, no nation, no age, had before dared even 10 
to try. We have founded a republic on the unlimited 
suffrage of the millions. We have actually worked out 
the problem that man, as God created him, may be 
trusted with self-government. We have shown the 
world that a Church without a bishop, and a State with- 15 
out a king, is an actual, real, every-day possibility. 
Look back over the history of the race; where will you 
find a chapter that precedes us in that achievement? 
Greece had her republics, but they were the republics 
of a few freemen and subjects and many slaves ; and 20 
"the battle of Marathon was fought by slaves, unchained 
from the door-posts of their masters' houses." Italy 
had her republics : they were the republics of wealth and 
skill and family, limited and aristocratic. The Swiss 
republics were groups of cousins. Holland had her re- 25 
public, a republic of guilds and landholders, trusting 
the helm of state to property and education. And all 
these, which at their best held but a million or two 
within their narrow limits, have gone down in the ocean 
of time. ^ 

A hundred years ago our fathers announced this sub- 
lime, and, as it seemed then, foolhardy declaration, — 
that God intended all men to be free and equal : all men, 
without restriction, without qualification, without limit. 



THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIC 215 

A hundred years have rolled away since that venturous 
declaration; and to-day, with a territory that joins ocean 
to ocean, with fifty millions of people, with two wars be- 
hind her, with the grand achievement of having grap- 

5 pled with the fearful disease that threatened her central 
life and broken four millions of fetters, the great Ee- 
public, stronger than ever, launches into the second 
century of her existence. The history of the world has 
no such chapter in its breadth, its depth, its significance, 

10 or its bearing on future history. 

What Wycliffe did for religion, Jefferson and Sam 
Adams did for the State, — they trusted it to the people. 
He gave the masses the Bible, the right to think. Jef- 
ferson and Sam Adams gave them the ballot, the right 

15 to rule. His intrepid advance contemplated theirs as 
its natural, inevitable result. Their serene faith com- 
pleted the gift which the Anglo-Saxon race makes to 
humanity. We have not only established a new meas- 
ure of the possibilities of the race; we have laid on 

20 strength, wisdom, and skill a new responsibility. Grant 
that each man^s relations to God and his neighbor are 
exclusively his own concern, and that he is entitled to 
all the aid that will make him the best judge of these 
relations; that the people are the source of all power, 

25 and their measureless capacity, the lever of all progress ; 
their sense of right, the court of final appeal in civil 
affairs; the institutions they create the only ones any 
power has a right to impose; that the attempt of one 
class to prescribe the law, the religion, the morals, or 

30 the trade of another is both unjust and harmful, — and 
the Wycliffe and Jefferson of history mean this if they 
mean anything, — then, when in 1867, Parliament 
doubled the English franchise, Eobert Lowe was right 
in affirming, amid the cheers of the House, "Now the 



216 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

first interest and duty of every Englishman is to edu- 
cate the masses — our masters." Then, whoever sees 
farther than his neighbor is that neighbor's servant to 
lift him to such higher level. Then, power, ability, in- 
fluence, character, virtue, are only trusts with which to 5 
serve our time. 

We all agree in the duty of scholars to help those 
less favored in life, and that this duty of scholars to 
educate the mass is still more imperative in a republic, 
since a republic trusts the State wholly to the intelli- 10 
gence and moral sense of the people. The experience of 
the last forty years shows every man that law has no 
atom of strength, either in Boston, or New Orleans, un- 
less, and only so far as, public opinion indorses it, and 
that your life, goods, and good name rest on the moral is 
sense, self-respect, and law-abiding mood of the men 
that walk the streets, and hardly a whit on the provi- 
sions of the statute-book. Come, any one of you, out- 
side of the ranks of popular men, and you will not fail 
to find it so. Easy men dream that we live under a 20 
government of law. Absurd mistake! we live under a 
government of men and newspapers. Your first attempt 
to stem dominant and keenly-cherished opinions will 
reveal this to you. 

But what is education ? Of course it is not book- 25 
learning. Book-learning does not make five per cent 
of that mass of common-sense that "runs" the world, 
transacts its business, secures its progress, trebles its 
power over Nature, works out in the long run a rough 
average justice, wears away the world's restraints, and so 
lifts off its burdens. The ideal Yankee, who "has more 
brains in his hand than others have in their skulls," is 
not a scholar; and two thirds of the inventions that 
enable France to double the world's sunshine, and make 



1 



THE SCHOLAR IN A EEPUBLIC 217 

Old and New England the workshops of the world, did 
not come from colleges or from minds trained in the 
schools of science, but struggled up, forcing their way 
against giant obstacles, from the irrepressible instinct 

5 of untrained natural power. Her workshops, not her 

colleges, made England, for a while, the mistress of the 

world; and the hardest job her workman had was to 

make Oxford willing he should work his wonders. 

So of moral gains. As shrewd an observer as Gover- 

10 nor Marcy, of New York, often said he cared nothing 
for the whole press of the seaboard, representing wealth 
and education (he meant book-learning), if it set itself 
against the instincts of the people. Lord Brougham, 
in a remarkable comment on the life of Eomilly, en- 

15 larges on the fact that the great reformer of the penal 
law found all the legislative and all the judicial power 
of England, its colleges and its bar, marshalled against 
him, and owed his success, as all such reforms do, says 
his lordship, to public meetings and popular instinct. 

20 It would be no exaggeration to say that government 
itself began in usurpation, in the feudalism of the sol- 
dier and the bigotry of the priest ; that liberty and 
civilization are only fragments of rights wrung from 
the strong hands of wealth and book-learning. Almost 

25 all the great truths relating to society were not the 
result of scholarly meditation, 'Tiiving up wisdom with 
each curious year," but have been first heard in the 
solemn protests of martyred patriotism and the loud 
cries of crushed and starving labor. When common- 

30 sense and the common people have stereotyped a prin- 
ciple into a statute, then book-men come to explain how 
it was discovered and on what ground it rests. The 
world makes history, and scholars write it, — one half 



218 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

truly, and the other half as their prejudices blur and 
distort it. 

New England learned more of the principles of tol- 
eration from a lyceum committee doubting the dicta 
of editors and bishops when they forbade it to put 5 
Theodore Parker on its platform; more from a debate 
whether the Antislavery cause should be so far counte- 
nanced as to invite one of its advocates to lecture ; from 
Sumner and Emerson, George William Curtis, and 
Edwin Whipple, refusing to speak unless a negro could lo 
buy his way into their halls as freely as any other, — 
New England has learned more from those lessons than 
she has or could have done from all the treatises on free 
printing from Milton and Roger Williams through 
Locke down to Stuart Mill. 15 

Selden, the profoundest scholar of his day, affirmed, 
''No man is wiser for his learning;" and that was only 
an echo of the Saxon proverb, "No fool is a perfect fool 
until he learns Latin.^' Bancroft says of cur fathers, 
that "the wildest theories of the human reason were re- 20 
duced to practice by a community so humble that no 
statesman condescended to notice it, and a legislation 
without precedent was produced off-hand by the in- 
stincts of the people." And Wordsworth testifies, that, 
while German schools might well blush for their sub- 25 
serviency, — 

"A few strong instincts and a few plain rules, 
Among the herdsmen of the Alps, have wrought 
More for mankind at this unhappy day 
Than all the pride of intellect and thought." 30 

Wycliffe was, no doubt, a learned man. But the 
learning of his day would have burned him, had it 
dared, as it did burn his dead body afterwards. Luther 




THE SCHOLAE IN A REPUBLIC 219 

and Melanchthon were scholars, but they were repudiated 
by the scholarship of their time, which followed Eras- 
mus, trying ''all his life to tread on eggs without break- 
ing them;" he who proclaimed that "peaceful error was 

5 better than tempestuous truth." What would college- 
graduate Seward weigh, in any scale, against Lincoln 
bred in affairs? 

Hence, I do not think the greatest things have been 
done for the world by its book-men. Education is not 

10 the chips of arithmetic and grammar, — nouns, verbs, 
and the multiplication table ; neither is it that last year's 
almanac of dates, or series of lies agreed upon, which 
we so often mistake for history. Education is not Greek 
and Latin and the air-pump. Still, I rate at its full 

15 value the training we get in these walls. Though what 
we actually carry away is little enough, we do get some 
training of our powers, as the gymnast or the fencer 
does of his muscles; we go hence also with such general 
knowledge of what mankind has agreed to consider 

20 proved and settled, that we know where to reach for the 
weapon when we need it. 

I have often thought the motto prefixed to his college 
library catalogue by the father of the late Professor 
Peirce, — Professor Peirce, the largest natural genius, 

25 the man of the deepest reach and firmest grasp and 
widest sympathy, that God has given to Harvard in our 
day, whose presence made you the loftiest peak and 
farthest outpost of more than mere scientific thought, 
the magnet who, with his twin Agassiz, made Harvard 

30 for forty years the intellectual Mecca of forty States, — 
his father's catalogue bore for a motto, Scire uhi aliquid 
invenias magna 'pars eruditionis est; and that always 
seemed to me to gauge very nearly all we acquired at 
college, except facility in the use of our powers. Our 



220 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

influence in the community does not really spring from 
superior attainments, but from this thorough training 
of faculties, and more even, perhaps, from the deference 
men accord to us. 

Gibbon says we have two educations, — one from teach- 5 
ers, and the other we give ourselves. This last i§ the 
real and only education of the masses, — one gotten from 
life, from affairs, from earning one's bread; necessity, 
the mother of invention; responsibility, that teaches 
prudence, and inspires respect for right. Mark the lO 
critic out of office; how reckless in assertion, how care- 
less of consequences ; and then the caution, forethought, 
and fair play of the same man charged with administra- 
tion. See that young, thoughtless wife suddenly wid- 
owed ; how wary and skilful, what ingenuity in guarding 15 
her child and saving his rights ! Any one who studied 
Europe forty or fifty years ago could not but have 
marked the level of talk there, far below that of our 
masses. It was of crops and rents, markets and mar- 
riages, scandal and fun. Watch men here, and how 20 
often you listen to the keenest discussions of right and 
wrong, this leader's honesty, that party's justice, the 
fairness of this law, the impolicy of that measure, — 
lofty, broad topics, training morals, widening views. 
Niebuhr said of Italy, sixty j'ears ago, "No one feels 25 
himself a citizen. Not only are the people destitute of 
hope, but they have not even wishes touching the world's 
affairs; and hence all the springs of great and noble 
thoughts are choked up." 

In this sense the Fremont campaign of 1856 taught so 
Americans more than a hundred colleges; and John 
Brown's pulpit at Harper's Ferry was equal to any ten 
thousand ordinary chairs. God lifted a million of hearts 
to his gibbet, as the Roman cross lifted a world to itself 



THE SCHOLAE IN A EEPUBLIC 221 

in that divine sacrifice of two thousand years ago. As 
much as statesmanship had taught in our previous 
eighty years, that one week of intellectual watching and 
weighing and dividing truth taught twenty millions of 

5 people. Yet how little, brothers, can we claim for book- 
men in that uprising and growth of 1856 ! And while 
the first of American scholars could hardly find in the 
rich vocabulary of Saxon scorn words enough to express, 
amid the plaudits of his class, his loathing and con- 

10 tempt for John Brown, Europe thrilled to him as proof 
that our institutions had not lost all their native and 
distinctive life. She had grown tired of our parrot note 
and cold moonlight reflection of older civilizations. 
Lansdowne and Brougham could confess to Sumner that 

15 they had never read a page of their contemporary, 
Daniel Webster; and you spoke to vacant eyes when you 
named Prescott, fifty years ago, to average Europeans; 
while Vienna asked, with careless indifference, "Seward, 
who is he?" But long before our ranks marched up 

20 State Street to the John Brown song, the banks of the 
Seine and of the Danube hailed the new life which had 
given us another and nobler Washington. Lowell fore- 
saw him when, forty years ago, he sang of, — 

** Truth forever on the scaffold, 
25 Wrong forever on the throne; 

Yet that scaffold sways the future, 

And behind the dim unknown 
Standeth God, within the shadow, 
Keeping watch above his own." 

30 And yet the book-men, as a class, have not yet acknowl- 
edged him. 

It is here that letters betray their lack of distinctive 
American character. Fifty millions of men God gives 
us to mould; burning questions, keen debate, great in- 



222 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

terests trying to vindicate their right to be, sad wrongs 
brought to the bar of public judgment, — these are the 
people's schools. Timid scholarship either shrinks from 
sharing in these agitations, or denounces them as vulgar 
and dangerous interference by incompetent hands with 5 
matters above them. A chronic distrust of the people 
pervades the book-educated class of the Xorth; they 
shrink from that free speech which is God's normal 
school for educating men, throwing upon them the grave 
responsibility of deciding great questions, and so lift- 10 
ing them to a higher level of intellectual and moral life. 
Trust the people — the wise and. the ignorant, the good 
and the bad — with the gravest questions, and in the end 
you educate the race. At the same time you secure, not 
perfect institutions, not necessarily good ones, but the r> 
best institutions possible while human nature is the 
basis and the only material to build with. Men are edu- 
cated and the State uplifted by allowing all — every one 
— to broach all their mistakes and advocate all their 
errors. The community that will not protect its most 20 
ignorant and unpopular member in the free utterance of 
his opinions, no matter how false or hateful, is only a 
gang of slaves ! 

Anacharsis went into the Archon's court at Athens, 
heard a case argued by the great men of that city, and 25 
saw the vote by five hundred men. Walking in the 
streets, some one asked him, "\Vhat do you think of 
Athenian liberty?" "I think," said he, "wise men 
argue cases, and fools decide them." Just what that 
timid scholar, two thousand years ago, said in the streets 30 
of Athens, that which calls itself scholarship here says 
to-day of popular agitation, — that it lets wise men argue 
questions and fools decide them. But that Athens 
where fools decided the gravest questions of policy and 



THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIC 233, 

of right and wrong, where property you had gathered 
wearily to-day might be wrung from you by the caprice 
of the mob to-morrow, — that very Athens probably se- 
cured, for its era, the greatest amount of human happi- 

5 ness and nobleness, invented art, and sounded for us the 
depths of philosophy. God lent to it the largest intel- 
lects, and it flashes to-day the torch that gilds yet the 
mountain peaks of the Old World. While Egypt, the 
hunher conservative of antiquity, where nobody dared 

10 to differ from the priest or to be wiser than his grand- 
father; where men pretended to be alive, though swad- 
dled in the grave-clothes of creed and custom as close as 
their mummies were in linen, — ^that Egypt is hid in the 
tomb it inhabited, and the intellect Athens has trained 

15 for us digs to-day those ashes to find out how buried 
and forgotten hunkerism lived and acted. 

I knew a signal instance of this disease of scholar's 
distrust, and the cure was as remarkable. In boyhood 
and early life I was honored with the friendship of 

20 Lothrop Motley. He grew up in the thin air of Boston 
provincialism, and pined on such weak diet. I remem- 
ber sitting with him once in the State House when he 
was a member of our legislature. With biting words 
and a keen crayon he sketched the ludicrous points in 

25 the minds and persons of his fellow-members, and tear- 
ing up the pictures, said scornfully, "What can become 
of a country with such fellows as these making its laws ? 
No safe investments; your »ood name lied away any 
hour, and little worth keeping if it were not." In vain 

30 I combated the folly. He went to Europe ; spent four 
or five years. I met him the day he landed on his re- 
turn. As if our laughing talk in the State House had 
that moment ended, he took my hand with the sudden 
exclamation, "You were all right ; I was all wrong ! It 



224 AMEKICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

is a country worth dying for; better still, worth living 
and working for, to make it all it can be !" Europe 
made him one of the most American of all Americans. 
Some five years later, when he sounded the bugle-note 
in his letter to the London Times, some critics who s 
knew his early mood, but not its change, suspected there 
might be a taint of ambition in what they thought so 
sudden a conversion. I could testify that the mood was 
five years old, — ^years before the slightest shadow of 
political expectation had dusked the clear mirror of his lo 
scholar life. 

This distrust shows itself in the growing dislike of 
universal suffrage, and the efforts to destroy it made of 
late by all our easy classes. The white South hates uni- 
versal suffrage ; the so-called cultivated North distrusts 15 
it. Journal and college, social-science convention and 
the pulpit, discuss the propriety of restraining it. 
Timid scholars tell their dread of it. Carlyle, that 
bundle of sour prejudices, flouts universal suffrage with 
a blasphemy that almost equals its ignorance. See his zo 
words: "Democracy will prevail when men believe the 
vote of Judas as good as that of Jesus Christ." No 
democracy ever claimed that the vote of ignorance and 
crime was as good in any sense as that of wisdom and 
virtue. It only asserts that crime and ignorance have 25 
the same right to vote that virtue has. Only by allow- 
ing that right, and so appealing to their sense of justice, 
and throwing upon them the burden of their full re- 
sponsibility, can we hope ever to raise crime and igno- 
rance to the level of self-respect. The right to choose so 
your governor rests on precisely the same foundation 
as the right to choose your religion ; and no more arro- 
gant or ignorant arraignment of all that is noble in the 
civil and religious Europe of the last five hundred years 



THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIC 225 

ever came from the triple crown on the Seven Hills 
than this sneer of the bigot Scotsman. Protestantism 
holds up its hands in holy horror, and tells us that the 
Pope scoops out the brains of his churchmen, saying, 
5 "I'll think for you; you need only obey.'' But the 
danger is, you meet such popes far away from the Seven 
Hills; and it is sometimes difficult at first to recognize 
them, for they do not by any means always wear the 
triple crown. 
10 Evarts and his committee, appointed to inquire why 
the New York City government is a failure, were not 
wise enough, or did not dare, to point out the real 
cause, — the tyranny of that tool of the demagogue, the 
corner grog-shop ; but they advised taking away the bal- 
ls lot from the poor citizen. But this provision would not 
reach the evil. Corruption does not so much rot the 
masses; it poisons Congress. Credit-Mobilier and 
money rings are not housed under thatched roofs; they 
flaunt at the Capitol. As usual in chemistry, the scum 
20 floats uppermost. The railway king disdained canvass- 
ing for voters : "It is cheaper," he said, "to buy legis- 
latures." 

It is not the masses who have most disgraced our 
political annals. I have seen many mobs between the 
25 seaboard and the Mississippi. I never saw or heard of 
any but well-dressed mobs, assembled and countenanced, 
if not always led in person, by respectability and what 
called itself education. That unrivalled scholar, the 
first and greatest New England ever lent to Congress, 
30 signalled his advent by quoting the original Greek of 
the New Testament in support of slavery, and offering 
to shoulder his musket in its defence; and forty years 
later the last professor who went to quicken and lift 
the moral mood of those halls is found advising a plain, 



226 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

blunt, honest witness to forge and lie, that this scholarly 
reputation might be saved from wreck. Singular com- 
ment on Landor's sneer, that there is a spice of the 
scoundrel in most of our literary men. But no exacting 
level of property qualification for a vote would have 5 
saved those stains. In those cases Judas did not come 
from the unlearned class. 

Grown gray over history, Macaulay prophesied twenty 
years ago that soon in these States the poor, worse than 
another inroad of Goths and Vandals, would begin a lo 
general plunder of the rich. It is enough to say that 
our national funds sell as well in Europe as English 
consols; and the universal-suifrage Union can borrow 
money as cheaply as Great Britain, ruled, one half by 
Tories, and the other half by men not certain that they is 
dare call themselves Whigs. Some men affected to scoff 
at democracy as no sound basis for national debt, doubt- 
ing the payment of ours. Europe not only wonders at 
its rapid payment, but the only taint of fraud that 
touches even the hem of our garment is the fraud of the 20 
capitalist cunningly adding to its burdens, and increas- 
ing unfairly the value of his bonds; not the first hint 
from the people of repudiating an iota even of its 
unjust additions. 

Yet the poor and the unlearned class is the one they 25 
propose to punish by disfranchisement. 

No wonder the humbler class looks on the whole scene 
with alarm. They see their dearest right in peril. 
When the easy class conspires to steal, what wonder the 
humbler class draws together to defend itself? True, 3j 
universal suffrage is a terrible power; and with all the 
great cities brought into subjection to the dangerous 
classes by grog, and Congress sitting to register the de- 
crees of capital, both sides may well dread the next 



THE SCHOLAE IN A EEPUBLIC 227 

move. Experience proves that popular governments are 
the best protectors of life and property. But suppose 
they were not, Bancroft allows that "the fears of one 
class are no measure of the rights of another." 
5 Suppose that universal suffrage endangered peace and 
threatened property. There is something more valuable 
than wealth, there is something more sacred than peace. 
As Humboldt says, "The finest fruit earth holds up to 
its Maker is a man." To ripen, lift, and educate a man 
10 is the first duty. Trade, law, learning, science, and 
religion are only the scaffolding wherewith to build a 
man. Despotism looks down into the poor man's cradle, 
and knows it can crush resistance and curb ill-will. 
Democracy sees the ballot in that baby-hand; and sel- 
ls fishness bids her put integrity on one side of those baby 
footsteps and intelligence on the other, lest her own 
hearth be in peril. Thank God for His method of tak- 
ing bonds of wealth and culture to share all their bless- 
ings with the humblest soul He gives to their keeping! 
20 The American should cherish as serene a faith as his 
fathers had. Instead of seeking a coward safety by bat- 
tening down the hatches and putting men back into 
chains, he should recognize that God places him in this 
peril that he may work out a noble security by concen- 
25 trating all moral forces to lift this weak, rotting, and 
dangerous mass into sunlight and health. The fathers 
touched their highest level when, with stout-hearted 
and serene faith, they trusted God that it was safe to 
leave men with all the rights he gave them. Let us 
30 be worthy of their blood, and save this sheet-anchor of 
the race, — universal suffrage, — God's church, God's 
school, God's method of gently binding men into com- 
monwealths in order that they may at last melt into 
brothers. 



228 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

I urge on college-bred men, that, as a class, they fail 
in republican duty when they allow others to lead in the 
agitation of the great social questions which stir and 
educate the age. Agitation is an old word with a new 
meaning. Sir Robert Peel, the first English leader who 5 
felt himself its tool, defined it to be "marshalling the 
conscience of a nation to mould its laws." Its means 
are reason and argument, — no appeal to arms. Wait 
patiently for the growth of public opinion. That se- 
cured, then every step taken is taken forever. An abuse lo 
once removed never reappears in history. The freer a 
nation becomes, the more utterly democratic in its form, 
the more need of this outside agitation. Parties and 
sects laden with the burden of securing their own suc- 
cess cannot afford to risk new ideas. "Predominant 15 
opinions," said Disraeli, "are the opinions of a class that 
is vanishing." The agitator must stand outside of or- 
ganizations, with no bread to earn, no candidate to 
elect, no party to save, no object but truth, — to tear a 
question open and riddle it with light. 20 

In all modern constitutional governments, agitation 
is the only peaceful method of progress. Wilberforce 
and Clarkson, Rowland Hill and Romilly, Cobden and 
John Bright, Garrison and O'Connell, have been the 
master-spirits in this new form of crusade. Rarely in 25 
this country have scholarly men joined, as a class, in 
these great popular schools, in these social movements 
which make the great interests of society "crash and 
jostle against each other like frigates in a storm." 

It is not so much that the people need us, or will feel 30 
any lack from our absence. They can do without us. 
By sovereign and superabundant strength they can 
crush their way through all obstacles. 



THE SCHOLAE IN A EEPUBLIC 229 

'^They will march prospering, — not through our presence; 
Songs will inspirit them, — not from our lyre; 
Deeds will be done, — while we boast our quiescence, 
Still bidding crouch whom the rest bid aspire. ' ' 

5 The misfortune is, we lose a God-given opportunity 
of making the change an unmixed good, or with the 
slightest possible share of evil, and are recreant besides 
to a special duty. These "agitations^' are the oppor- 
tunities and the means God offers us to refine the taste, 

10 mould the character, lift the purpose, and educate the 
moral sense of the masses on whose intelligence and self- 
respect rests the State. God furnishes these texts. He 
gathers for us this audience, and only asks of our coward 
lips to preach the sermons. 

15 There have been four or five of these great oppor- 
tunities. The crusade against slavery — that grand 
hypocrisy which poisoned the national life of two gen- 
erations — was one, — a conflict between two civilizations 
which threatened to rend the Union. Almost every 

20 element among us was stirred to take a part in the bat- 
tle. Every great issue, civil and moral, was involved, — 
toleration of opinion, limits of authority, relation of 
citizen to law, place of the Bible, priest and layman, 
sphere of woman, question of race. State rights and na- 

25 tionality ; and Channing testified that free speech and 
free printing owed their preservation to the struggle. 
But the pulpit flung the Bible at the reformer ; law vis- 
ited him with its penalties; society spewed him out of 
its mouth; bishops expurgated the pictures of their 

30 Common Prayer Books ; and editors omitted pages in 
republishing English history; even Pierpont emascu- 
lated his Class-book; Bancroft remodelled his chapters; 
and Everett carried Washington through thirty States, 
remembering to forget the brave words the wise Vir- 



230 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

ginian had left on record warning his countrymen of 
this evil. Amid this battle of the giants, scholarship 
sat dumb for thirty years until imminent deadly peril 
convulsed it into action, and colleges, in their despair, 
gave to the army that help they had refused to the 5 
market-place and the rostrum. 

There was here and there an exception. That earth- 
quake scholar at Concord, whose serene word, like a 
whisper among the avalanches, topples down supersti- 
tions and prejudices, was at his post, and with half 10 
a score of others, made the exception that proved the 
rule. Pulpits, just so far as they could not boast of 
culture, and nestled closest down among the masses, 
were infinitely braver than the "spires and antique 
towers" of stately collegiate institutions. 13 

Then came reform of penal legislation^ — the effort 
to make law mean justice, and substitute for its bar- 
barism Christianity and civilization. In Massachusetts, 
Eantoul represents Beccaria and Livingston, Mackin- 
tosh and Eomilly. I doubt if he ever had one word of 20 
encouragement from Massachusetts letters; and with a 
single exception, I have never seen, till within a dozen 
years, one that could be called a scholar active in moving 
the legislature to reform its code. 

The London Times proclaimed, twenty years ago, that 25 
intemperance produced more idleness, crime, disease, 
want and misery, than all other causes put together; 
and the Westminster Beview calls it a "curse that far 
eclipses every other calamity under which we suffer," 
Gladstone, speaking as prime minister, admitted that so 
"greater calamities are inflicted on mankind by intem- 
perance than by the three great historical scourges, — 
war, pestilence, and famine." De Quincey says, "The 
most remarkable instance of a combined movement in 



THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIC 231 

society which history, perhaps, will be summoned to no- 
tice, is that which, in our day, has applied itself to the 
abatement of intemperance. Two vast movements are 
hurrying into action by velocities continually acceler- 

5 ated, — the great revolutionary movement from political 
causes, concurring with the great physical movement in 
locomotion and social intercourse from the gigantic 
power of steam. At the opening of such a crisis, had no 
third movement arisen of resistance to intemperate 

10 hahits, there would have been ground of despondency as 
to the melioration of the human race." These are Eng- 
lish testimonies, where the State rests more than half 
on bayonets. Here we are trying to rest the ballot-box 
on a drunken people. "We can rule a great city," said 

15 Sir Robert Peel, "America cannot ;" and he cited the 
mobs of New York as sufficient proof of his assertion. 

Thoughtful men see that up to this hour the govern- 
ment of great cities has been with us a failure; that 
worse than the dry-rot of legislative corruption, than 

20 the rancor of party spirit, than Southern barbarism, 
than even the tyranny of incorporated wealth, is the 
giant burden of intemperance, making universal suf- 
frage a failure and a curse in every great city. Scholars 
who play statesmen, and editors who masquerade as 

25 scholars, can waste much excellent anxiety that clerks 
shall get no office until they know the exact date of 
Caesar's assassination, as well as the latitude of Pekin, 
and the Eule of Three. But while this crusade — the 
Temperance movement — ^has been, for sixty years, gath- 

30 ering its facts and marshalling its arguments, rallying 
parties, besieging legislatures, and putting greart States 
on the witness-stand as evidence of the soundness of its 
methods, scholars have given it nothing but a sneer. 
But if universal suffrage ever fails here for a time, — 



232 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDKESSES 

permanently it cannot fail, — it will not be incapable 
civil service, nor an ambitious soldier, nor Southern 
vandals, nor venal legislatures, nor the greed of wealth, 
nor boy statesmen rotten before they are ripe, that will 
put universal suffrage into eclipse: it will be rum in- 5 
trenched in great cities and commanding every vantage 
ground. 

Social science affirms that woman's place in society 
marks the level of civilization. From its twilight in 
Greece, through the Italian worship of the Virgin, the lo 
dreams of chivalry, the justice of the civil law, and the 
equality of French society, we trace her gradual recog- 
nition; while our common law, as Lord Brougham con- 
fessed, was, with relation to women, the opprobrium of 
the age and of Christianity. For forty years plain men 15 
and women, working noiselessly, have washed away that 
opprobrium ; the statute-books of thirty States have been 
remodelled, and woman stands to-day almost face to 
face with her last claim, — the ballot. It has been a 
weary and thankless, though successful, struggle. But 20 
if there be any refuge from that ghastly curse, — the vice 
of great cities, before which social science stands palsied 
and dumb, — it is in this more equal recognition of 
woman. If, in this critical battle for universal suffrage, 
— our fathers' noblest legacy to us, and the greatest 25 
trust God leaves in our hands, — there be any weapon, 
which once taken from the armory will make victory 
certain, it will be, as it has been in art, literature, and 
society, summoning woman into the political arena. 

But at any rate, up to this point, putting suffrage so 
aside, there can be no difference of opinion ; everything 
born of Christianity, or allied to Grecian culture or 
Saxon law, must rejoice in the gain. The literary class, 
until within half a dozen years, has taken note of this 



THE SCHOLAR IN A EEPUBLIC 333 

great uprising only to fling every obstacle in its way. 
The first glimpse we get of Saxon blood in history is 
that line of Tacitus in his "Germany/' which reads, 
"In all grave matters they consult their women." Years 

5 hence, when robust Saxon sense has flung away Jewish 
superstition and Eastern prejudice, and put under its 
foot fastidious scholarship and squeamish fashion, some 
second Tacitus, from the valley of the Mississippi, will 
answer to him of the Seven Hills, "In all grave ques- 

10 tions we consult our women/' ^, ^ -^ 

I used to think that then we could say to letters as 
Henry of Navarre wrote to the Sir Philip Sidney of his 
realm, Crillon, "the bravest of the brave," "We have 
conquered at Arques, et tu ny etais pas, Crillon/' — 

15 "You were not there, my Crillon." But a second thought 
reminds me that what claims to be literature has been 
always present in that battlefield, and always in the 
ranks of the foe. 

Ireland is another touchstone which reveals to us 

20 how absurdly we masquerade in democratic trappings 
while we have gone to seed in Tory distrust of the peo- 
ple; false to every duty, which, as eldest-born of demo- 
cratic institutions, we owe to the oppressed, and careless 
of the lesson every such movement may be made in keep- 

25 ing public thought, clear, keen, and fresh as ^to prin- 
ciples which are the essence of our civilization, the 
groundwork of all education in republics. 

Sydney Smith said, "The moment Ireland is men- 
tioned the English seem to bid adieu to common-sense, 

30 and to act with the barbarity of tyrants and the fatuity 
of idiots. ... As long as the patient will sufl'er, 
the cruel will kick. ... If the Irish go on with- 
holding and forbearing, and hesitating whether this is 
the time for discussion or that is the time, they will be 



234 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

laughed at another century as fools, and kicked for an- 
other century as slaves." Byron called England's Union 
with Ireland "the union of the shark with his prey." 
Bentham's conclusion, from a survey of five hundred 
years of European history, was, "Only by making the 5 
ruling few uneasy can the oppressed many obtain a 
particle of relief." Edmund Burke — Burke, the noblest 
figure in the Parliamentary history of the last hundred 
years, greater than Cicero in the senate and almost 
Plato in the academy — Burke affirmed, a century ago, lo 
"Ireland has learned at last that justice is to be had 
from England only when demanded at the sword's 
point." And a century later, only last year, Gladstone 
himself proclaimed in a public address in Scotland, 
"England never concedes anything to Ireland except 15 
when moved to do so by fear." 

When we remember these admissions, we ought to 
clap our hands at every fresh Irish "outrage," as a par- 
rot-press styles it, aware that it is only a far-off echo of 
the musket-shots that rattled against the Old State 20 
House on the 5th of March, 1770, and of the war-whoop 
that made the tiny spire of the Old South tremble when 
Boston rioters emptied the three India tea-ships into the 
sea, — welcome evidence of living force and rare intelli- 
gence in the victim, and a sign that the day of deliver- 25 
ance draws each hour nearer. Cease ringing endless 
changes of eulog}' on the men who made North's Boston 
port-bill a failure, while every leading journal sends 
daily over the water wishes for the success of Glad- 
stone's copy of the bill for Ireland If all rightful gov- 30 
ernment rests on consent, — if, as the French say, you 
"can do almost anything with a bayonet except sit on 
it," — be at least consistent, and denounce the man who 
covers Ireland with regiments to hold up a despotism 



THE SCHOLAE IN A EEPUBLIC 235 

which, within twenty months, he has confessed rests 
wholly upon fear. 

Then note the scorn and disgust with which we 
gather up our garments about us and disown the Sam 

5 Adams and William Prescott, the George Washington 
and John Brown, of St. Petersburg, the spiritual de- 
scendants, the living representatives of those who make 
our history worth anything in the world's annals, — the 
Nihilists. 

10 Nihilism is the righteous and honorable resistance of 
a people crushed under an iron rule. Nihilism is evi- 
dence of life. When "order reigns in Warsaw," it is 
spiritual death. Nihilism is the last weapon of victims 
choked and manacled beyond all other resistance. It 

15 is crushed humanity's only means of making the op- 
pressor tremble. God means that unjust power shall 
be insecure; and every move of the giant, prostrate in 
chains, whether it be to lift a single dagger, or stir a 
city's revolt, is a lesson in justice. One might well 

20 tremble for the future of the race if such a despotism 
could exist without provoking the bloodiest resistance. 
I honor Nihilism, since it redeems human nature from 
the suspicion of being utterly vile, made up only of 
heartless oppressors and ^ contented slaves. Every line 

25 in our history, every interest of civilization, bids us 
rejoice when the tyrant grows pale and the slave rebel- 
lious. We cannot but pity the suffering of any human 
being, however richly deserved; but such pity must 
not confuse our moral sense. Humanity gains. Chat- 

30 ham rejoiced when our fathers rebelled. For every 
single reason they alleged, Eussia counts a hundred, 
each one ten times bitterer than any Hancock or Adams 
could give. Sam Johnson's standing toast in Oxford 
port was, "Success to the first insurrection of slaves in 



236 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

Jamaica," — a sentiment Southey echoed. "Eschew 
cant/' said that old moralist. But of all the cants 
that are canted in this canting world, though the cant 
of piety may be the worst, the cant of Americans 
bewailing Eussian Xihilism is the most disgusting. 5 

I know what reform needs, and all it needs, in a land 
where discussion is free, the press untrammelled, and 
where public halls protect debate. There, as Emerson 
says, "What the tender and poetic youth dreams to-day, 
and conjures up with inarticulate speech, is to-morrow 10 
the vociferated result of public opinion, and the day 
after is the charter of nations." / Lieber said, in 1870, 
"Bismarck proclaims to-day in the Diet the very princi- 
ples for which we were hunted and exiled fifty years 
ago." ,, Submit to risk 3'our daily bread, expect social 15 
ostracism, count on a mob now and then, "be in ear- 
nest, don't equivocate, don't excuse, don't retreat a sin- 
gle inch," and you will finally be heard. No matter 
how long and weary the waiting, at last, — 

**Ever the truth comes uppermost, 20 

And ever is justice done;" 

**For Humanity sweeps onward, 

Where to-day the martyr stands 
On the morrow crouches Judas, 

With the silver in his hands; 25 

**Far in front the cross stands ready, 

And the crackling fagots burn, 
While the hpoting mob of yesterday 

In silent awe return 
To glean up the scattered ashes 30 

Into History's golden urn." 

In such a land he is doubly and trebly guilty who, 
except in some most extreme case, disturbs the sober 
rule of law and order. 



THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIC goij- 

But such is not Eussia. In Eussia there is no press, 
no debate, no explanation of what government does, no 
remonstrance allowed, no agitation of public issues. 
Dead silence, like that which reigns at the summit of 

5 ^lont Blanc, freezes the whole empire, long ago de- 
scribed as "a despotism tempered by assassination." 
Meanwhile, such despotism has unsettled the brains of 
the ruling family, as unbridled power doubtless made 
some of the twelve Caesars insane, — a madman sporting 

10 with the lives and comfort of hundred millions of men. 
The young girl whispers in her mother^s ear, under a 
ceiled roof, her pity for a brother knouted and dragged 
half dead into exile for his opinions. The next week 
she is stripped naked and flogged to death in the public 

15 square. No inquiry, no explanation, no trial, no pro- 
test; one dead uniform silence, — the law of the tyrant. 
Where is there ground for any hope of peaceful change ? 
Where the fulcrum upon which you can plant any pos- 
sible lever? 

20 Macchiavelli's sorry picture of poor human nature 
would be fulsome flattery if men could keep still under 
such oppression. No, no ! in such a land dynamite and 
the dagger are the necessary and proper substitutes for 
Faneuil Hall and the Daily Advertiser. Anything that 

25 will make the madman quake in his bedchamber, and 
rouse his victims into reckless and desperate resistance. 
This is the only view an American, the child of 1620 
and 1776, can take of Nihilism. Any other unsettles 
and perplexes the ethics of our civilization. 

30 Born within sight of Bunker Hill, in a commonwealth 
which adopts the motto of Algernon Sydney, sub lib- 
ertate quietem ("accept no peace' without liberty") ; son 
of Harvard, whose first pledge was "Truth;" citizen of 
a republic based on the claim that no government is 



238 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

rightful unless resting on the consent of the people, 
and which assumes to lead in asserting the rights of 
humanity, — I at least can say nothing else and nothing 
less; no, not if every tile on Cambridge roofs were a 
devil hooting my words ! 5 

I shall bow to any rebuke from those who hold Chris- 
tianity to command entire non-resistance. But criticism 
from any other quarter is only that nauseous hypocrisy 
which, stung by threepenny tea-tax, piles Bunker Hill 
with granite and statues, prating all the time of patriot- 10 
ism and broadswords, while, like another Pecksniff, it 
recommends a century of dumb submission and entire 
non-resistance to the Russians, who for a hundred 
years have seen their sons by thousands dragged to 
death or exile, no one knows which, in this worse than 15 
Venetian mystery of police, and their maidens flogged 
to death in the market-place, and who share the same 
fate if they presume to ask the reason why. 

"It is unfortunate," says Jefferson, "that the efforts 
of mankind to secure the freedom of which they have 20 
been deprived, should be accompanied with violence and 
even with crime. But while we weep over the means, we 
must pray for the end." Pray fearlessly for such 
ends ; there is no risk ! "Men arc all tories by nature," 
says Arnold, "when tolerably well off ; only monstrous 25 
injustice and atrocious cruelty can rouse them." Some 
talk of the rashness of the uneducated classes. Alas ! 
ignorance is far oftener obstinate than rash. Against 
one French Revolution — that scarecrow of the ages — 
weigh Asia, "carved in stone," and a thousand years of so 
Europe, with her half-dozen nations meted out and 
trodden down to be the dull and contented footstools 
of priests and kings. The customs of a thousand years 
ago are the sheet-anchor of the passing generation, so 



THE SCHOLAR IN A EEPUBLIC 239 

deeply buried, so fixed, that the most violent efforts of 
the maddest fanatic can drag it but a hand's-breadth. 

Before the war, Americans were like the crowd in 
that terrible hall of Eblis which Beckford painted for 

5 us, — each man with his hand pressed on the incurable 
sore in his bosom, and pledged not to speak of it ; com- 
pared with other lands, we were intellectually and 
morally a nation of cowards. 

When I first entered the Eoman States, a custom- 

10 house official seized all my French books. In vain I 
held up to him a treatise by Fenelon, and explained 
that it was by a Catholic archbishop of Cambray. 
Grufily he answered, "It makes no difference; it is 
French/' As I surrendered the volume to his remorse- 

15 less grasp, I could not but honor the nation which had 
made its revolutionary purpose so definite that despot- 
ism feared its very language. I only wished that in- 
justice and despotism everywhere might one day have 
as good cause to hate and to fear everything American. 

20 At last that disgraceful seal of slave complicity is 
broken. Let us inaugurate a new departure, recognize 
that we are afloat on the current of M agar a, eternal 
vigilance the condition of our safety, that we are ir- 
revocably pledged to the world not to go back to bolts 

25 and bars, — could not if we would, and would not if we 
could. Never again be ours the fastidious scholarship 
that shrinks from rude contact with the masses. Very 
pleasant it is to sit high up in the world's theatre and 
criticise the ungraceful struggles of the gladiators, shrug 

30 one's shoulders at the actors' harsh cries, and let every 
one know that but for this "villanous saltpetre you 
would yourself have been a soldier." But Bacon says, 
*'In the theatre of man's life, God and his angels only 
should be lookers-on." "Sin is not taken out of man 



240 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

as Eve was out of Adam, by putting him to sleep." 
^ v"Very beautiful," says Richter, "is the eagle when he 
floats with outstretched wings aloft in the clear blue; 
but sublime when he plunges down through the tempest 
to his eyry on the cliff, where his unfledged young ones 5 
dwell and are starving./ Accept proudly the analysis of 
Fisher Ames: (*^A monarchy is a man-of-war, staunch, 
iron-ribbed, and resistless when under full sail; yet a 
single hidden rock sends her to the bottom. Our repub- 
lic is a raft hard to steer, and your feet always wet ; but lo 
nothing can sink her.^' If the Alps, piled in cold and 
silence, be the emblem of despotism, we joyfully take 
the ever-restless ocean for ours, — only pure because 
never still. 

Journalism must have more self-respect. Now it 15 
praises good and bad men so indiscriminately that a 
good word from nine-tenths of our journals is worthless. 
In burying our Aaron Burrs, both political parties — in 
order to get the credit of magnanimity — exhaust the 
vocabulary of eulogy so thoroughly that there is nothing 20 
left with which to distinguish our John Jays. The love 
of a good name in life and a fair reputation to sur- 
vive us — that strong bond to well-doing — is lost where 
every career, however stained, is covered with the same 
fulsome flattery, and where what men say in the streets 25 
is the exact opposite of what they say to each other. 
De mortuis nil nisi honwm, most men translate, "Speak 
only good of the dead." I prefer to construe it, "Of the 
dead say nothing unless you can tell something good." 
And if the sin and the recreancy have been marked and so 
far-reaching in their evil, even the charity of silence is 
not permissible. 

To be as good as our fathers we must be better. 
They silenced their fears and subdued their prejudices. 



THE SCHOLAE IN A EEPUBLIC 241 

inaugurating free speech and equality with no precedent 
on the file. Europe shouted "Madmen!" and gave us 
forty years for the shipwreck. With serene faith they 
persevered. Let us rise to their level. Crush appetite, 

5 and prohibit temptation if it rots great cities. Intrench 
labor in sufficient bulwarks against that wealth which, 
without the tenfold strength of modern incorporation, 
wrecked the Grecian and Eoman States; and with a 
sterner effort still, summon women into civil life as 

10 reinforcement to our laboring ranks in the effort to 
make our civilization a success. 

Sit not, like the figure on our silver coin, looking 
ever backward. 

*'New occasions teach new duties; 
l«i Time makes ancient good uncouth; 

They must upward still, and onward, 

"Who would keep abreast of Truth. 

Lo! before us gleam her camp-fires! 

We ourselves must Pilgrims be, 
20 Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly 

Through the desperate winter sea, 

Nor attempt the Future's portal 

With the Past's blood-rusted key." 



THE NEW SOUTH 

HENRY W. GRADY 
Before the New England Club, New York, December 21, 1886 

"There was a South of slavery and secession: that 
South is dead. There is a South of union and freedom : 
that South, thank God, is living, breathing, growing 
every hour." These words, delivered from the im- 
mortal lips of Benjamin H. Hill, at Tammany Hall 5 
in 1866, true then and truer now, I shall make my 
text to-night. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen, let me express to you 
my appreciation of the kindness by which I am per- 
mitted to address you. I make this abrupt acknowl- 10 
edgement advisedly, for I feel that if, when I raise my 
provincial voice in this ancient and august presence, I 
could find courage for no more than the opening sen- 
tence, it would be well if in that sentence I had met in 
a rough sense my obligation as a guest, and had 15 
perished, so to speak, with courtesy on my lips and 
grace in my heart. Permitted, through your kindness, 
to catch my second wind, let me say that I appreciate 
the significance of being the first Southerner to speak 
at this board, which bears the substance, if it sur- 20 
passes the semblance, of original New England hospi- 
tality, and honors the sentiment that in turn honors 
you, but in which my personality is lost and the com- 
pliment to my people made plain. 

I bespeak the utmost stretch of your courtesy to-night. 25 

242 



THE NEW SOUTH 243 

I am not troubled about those from whom I come. 
You remember the man whose wife sent him to a neigh- 
bor with a pitcher of milk, and who, tripping on the 
top step, fell (with such casual interruptions as the 

5 landings afforded) into the basement; and, while pick- 
ing himself up, had the pleasure of hearing his wife 
call out: "John, did you break the pitcher?" "No, 
I didn't," said John, "but I'll be dinged if I don't." 
So, while those who call me from behind may inspire 

10 me with energy if not with courage, I ask an indulgent 
hearing from you. I beg that you will bring your full 
faith in American fairness and frankness to judgment 
upon what I shall say. There was an old preacher once 
who told some boys of the Bible lesson he was going to 

15 read in the morning. The boys, finding the place, glued 
together the connecting pages. The next morning he 
read at the bottom of one page, "When Noah was one 
hundred and twenty years old he took unto himself 
a wife who was" — then turning the page — "140 cubits 

20 long, 40 cubits wide, built of gopher wood, and covered 
with pitch inside and out." He was naturally puzzled 
at this. He read it again, verified it, and then said : 
"My friends, this is the first time I ever met this in the 
Bible, but I accept this as an evidence of the assertion 

25 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If I 
could get you to hold such faith to-night, I could 
proceed cheerfully to the task I otherwise approach with 
a sense of consecration. 

Pardon me one word, Mr. President, spoken for the 

30 sole purpose of getting into the volumes that go out 
annually freighted with the rich eloquence of your 
speakers — the fact that the Cavalier as well as the 
Puritan was on the continent in its early days, and that 
he was "up and able to be about." I have read your 



244 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

books carefully and I find no mention of that fact, 
which seems an important one to me for preserving a 
sort of historical equilibrium if for nothing else. 

Let me remind you that the Virginia Cavalier first 
challenged France on the continent ; that Cavalier John 5 
Smith gave New England its very name, and was so 
pleased with the job that he has been handing his own 
name around ever since; and that while Miles Standish 
was cutting off men's ears for courting a girl without 
her parents' consent, and forbade men to kiss their 10 
wives on Sunday, the Cavalier was courting everything 
in sight, and that the Almighty had vouchsafed great 
increase to the Cavalier colonies, the huts in the wilder- 
ness being full as the nests in the woods. 

But having incorporated the Cavalier as a fact in 15 
your charming little books, I shall let him work out 
his own salvation, as he has always done with engaging 
gallantry, and we will hold no controversy as to his 
merits. Why should we ? Neither Puritan nor Cavalier 
long survived as such. The virtues and good traditions 20 
of both happily still live for the inspiration of their 
sons and the saving of the old fashion. But both 
Puritan and Cavalier were lost in the storm of the 
first Revolution, and the American citizen, supplanting 
both and stronger than either, took possession of the 25 
republic bought by their common blood and fashioned 
to wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men 
government and establishing the voice of the people as 
the voice of God. 

My friend Dr. Talmage has told you that the typical 30 
American has yet to come. Let me tell you that he 
has already come. Great types, like valuable plants, are 
slow to flower and fruit. But from the union of these 
colonies, Puritane and Cavaliers, — from the straighten- 



THE NEW SOUTH 245 

ing of their purposes and the crossing of their blood, 
slow perfecting through a century, — came he who stands 
as the first typical American, the first who comprehended 
within himself all the strength and gentleness, all the 

5 majesty and grace of this republic — Abraham Lincoln. 

He was the sum of Puritan and Cavalier, for in his 

ardent nature were fused the virtues of both and in 

the depths of his great soul the faults of both were 

lost. He was greater than Puritan, greater than Cava- 

10 Her, in that he was American, and that in his honest 
form were first gathered the vast and thrilling forces 
of his ideal government — charging it with such tre- 
mendous meaning and so elevating it above human 
suffering that martyrdom, though infamously aimed, 

15 came as a fitting crown to a life consecrated from the 
cradle to human liberty. Let us, each cherishing the 
traditions and honoring his fathers, build with reverend 
hands to the type of this simple but sublime life, in 
which all types are honored; and in our common glory 

20 as Americans there will be plenty and to spare for 
your forefathers and for mine. 

In speaking to the toast with which you have honored 
me, I accept the term, "The New South,^' as in no sense 
disparaging to the Old. Dear to me, sir, is the home 

25 of my childhood and the traditions of my people. I 
would not, if I could, dim the glory they won in peace 
and war, or by word or deed take aught from the 
splendor and grace of their civilization — never equalled 
and perhaps never to be equalled in its chivalric strength 

30 and grace. There is a New South, not through protest 
against the Old, but because of new conditions, new 
adjustments, and, if you please, new ideas and aspira- 
tions. It is to this that I address myself, and to the 



246 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

consideration of which I hasten lest it become the Old 
South before I get to it. . . . 

Dr. Talmage has drawn for you, with a master's 
hand, the picture of your returning armies. He has 
told you how, in the pomp and circumstance of war, 5 
they came back to you, marching with proud and vic- 
torious tread, reading their glory in a nation's eyes ! 
Will you bear with me while I tell you of another army 
that sought its home at the close of the late war; an 
army that marched home in defeat and not in victory ; 10 
in pathos and not in splendor ; but in glory that equalled 
yours, and to hearts as loving as ever welcomed heroes 
home ? Let me picture to you the footsore Confederate 
soldier as, buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the 
parole which was to bear testimony to his children of 15 
his fidelity and faith, he turned his face southward 
from Appomattox in April, 1865. 

Think of him as — ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, 
enfeebled by want and wounds, having fought to ex- 
haustion — he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands of 20 
his comrades in silence, and lifting his tear-stained 
and pallid face for the last time to the graves that dot 
old Virginia hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow 
and begins the slow and painful journey. What does 
he find — let me ask you who went to your homes eager 25 
to find, in the welcome you had justly earned, full 
payment for four years' sacrifice — what does he find 
when, having followed the battle-stained cross against 
overwhelming odds, dreading death not half so much as 
surrender, he reaches the home he left so prosperous so 
and beautiful? 

He finds his house in ruins, his farm devastated, his 
slaves free, his stock killed, his barns empty, his trade 
destroyed, his money worthless, his social system, feudal 



THE NEW SOUTH 247 

in its magnificence, swept away; his people without 
law or legal status, his comrades slain, and the burdens 
of others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed by defeat, 
his very traditions are gone. Without money, credit, 

5 employment, material, or training; and besides all this 
confronted with the gravest problem that ever met hu- 
man intelligence — ^the establishing of a status for the 
vast body of his liberated slaves. 

What does he do — this hero in gray with a heart of 

10 gold ? Does he sit down in sullenness and despair ? 
Not for a day. Surely God who had stripped him of 
his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As ruin 
was never before so overwhelming, never was restoration 
swifter. The soldier stepped from the trenches into 

15 the furrow; horses that had charged Federal guns 
marched before the plow, and fields that ran red with 
human blood in April were green with the harvest 
in June; women reared in luxury cut up their dresses 
and made breeches for their husbands, and with a 

20 patience and heroism that fit women always as a gar- 
ment gave their hands to work. There was little bitter- 
ness in all this. Cheerfulness and frankness prevailed. 
"Bill Arp" struck the key-note when he said : "Well, I 
killed as many of them as they did of me, and now 

25 I^m going to work." Or the soldier returning home 
after defeat and roasting some corn on the roadside, 
who made the remark to his comrades : "You may leave 
the South if you want to, but I'm going to Sandersville, 
kiss my wife, and raise a crop, and if the Yankees 

30 fool with me any more I'll whip 'em again." 

I want to say to General Sherman, — who is con- 
sidered an able man in our parts, though some people 
think he is a kind of careless man about fire, — that 
from the ashes he left us in 1864 we have raised a 



248 AMEEICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

brave and beautiful city; that somehow or other we 
have caught the sunshine in the bricks and mortar of 
our homes, and have builded therein not one ignoble 
prejudice or memory. 

But what is the sum of our work ? We have found 5 
out that in the summing up the free negro counts more 
than he did as a slave. We have planted the school- 
house on the hilltop and made it free to white and 
black. We have sowed towns and cities in the place 
of theories, and put business above politics. We have 10 
challenged your spinners in Massachusettts and your 
iron-makers in Pennsylvania. We have learned that 
the $400,000,000 annually received from our cotton 
crop will make us rich when the supplies that make it 
are home-raised. We have reduced the commercial rate 15 
of interest from twenty-four to six per cent, and are 
floating four per cent bonds. 

We have learned that one Northern immigrant is 
worth fifty foreigners; and have smoothed the path to 
southward, wiped out the place where Mason and 20 
Dixon's line used to be, and hung out our latch-string 
to you and yours. We have reached the point that 
marks perfect harmony in every household, when the 
husband confesses that the pies which his wife cooks 
are as good as those his mother used to bake ; and we 25 
admit that the sun shines as brightly and the moon 
as softly as it did before the war. We have establislied 
thrift in city and country. We have fallen in love 
with our work. We have restored comfort to homes 
from which culture and elegance never departed. We 80 
have let economy take root and spread among us as 
rank as the crabgrass which sprung from Sherman's 
cavalry camps, until we are ready to lay odds on the 
Georgia Yankee — as he manufactures relics of the 



THE NEW SOUTH 249 

battlefield in a one-story shanty and squeezes pure olive 
oil out of his cottonseed — against any Down-Easter 
that ever swapped wooden nutmegs for flannel sausage 
in the valleys of Vermont. Above all, we know that 

5 we have achieved in these "piping times of peace" a 
fuller independence for the South than that which 
our fathers sought to win in the forum by their elo- 
quence, or compel in the field by their swords. 

It is a rare privilege, sir, to have had part, however 

10 humble, in this work. Never was nobler duty confided 
to human hands than the uplifting and upbuilding of 
the prostrate and bleeding South — misguided, perhaps, 
but beautiful in her suffering, and honest, brave, and 
generous always. In the record of her social, industrial, 

15 and political illustrations we await with confidence the 
verdict of the world. 

But what of the negro? Have we solved the problem 
he presents or progressed in honor and equity toward 
solution? Let the record speak to the point. No sec- 

20 tion shows a more prosperous laboring population than 
the negroes of the South, none in fuller sympathy with 
the employing and landowning class. He shares our 
school fund, has the fullest protection of our laws and 
the friendship of our people. Self-interest as well as 

25 honor demand that he should have this. Our future, 
our very existence, depend upon working out this prob- 
lem in full and exact justice. 

We understand that when Lincoln signed the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation, your victory was assured, for 

30 he then committed you to the cause of human liberty, 
against which the arms of man can not prevail ; while 
those of our statesmen who trusted to make slavery 
the "corner-stone" of the Confederacy, doomed us to 
defeat as far as they could, committing us to a cause 



250 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

that reason could not defend or the sword maintain in 
the sight of advancing civilization. 

Had Mr. Toombs said (which he did not say) "that 
he would call the roll of his slaves at the foot of 
Bunker Hill/' he would have been foolish, for he might 5 
have known that whenever slavery became entangled 
in war it must perish, and that the chattel in human 
flesh ended forever in New England when your fathers 
— not to be blamed for parting with what didn't pay — 
sold their slaves to our fathers — not to be praised for lo 
knowing a paying thing when they saw it. 

The relations of the Southern people with the negro 
are close and cordial. We remember with what fidelity 
for four years he guarded our defenseless women and 
children, whose husbands and fathers were fighting 15 
against his freedom. To his eternal credit be it said 
that whenever he struck a blow for his own liberty 
he fought in open battle, and when at last he raised 
his black and humble hands that the shackles might 
be struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong 20 
against his helpless charges, and worthy to be taken in 
loving grasp by every man who honors loyalty and 
devotion. 

Euffians have maltreated him, rascals have misled 
him, philanthropists established a bank for him, but 25 
the South, with the North, protests against injustice 
to this simple and sincere people. To liberty and en- 
franchisement is as far as law can carry the negro. 
The rest must be left to conscience and common sense. 
It must be left to those among whom his lot is cast, so 
with whom he is indissolubly connected, and whose 
prosperity depends upon their possessing his intelligent 
sympathy and confidence. Faith has been kept with 
him, in spite of calumnious assertions to the contrary 



THE NEW SOUTH 251 

by those who assume to speak for us, or by frank oppo- 
nents. Faith will be kept with him in the future, if 
the South holds her reason and integrity. 

But have we kept faith with you? In the fullest 

5 sense, yes. When Lee surrendered — I don't say when 
Johnston surrendered, because I understand he still 
alludes to the time when he met General Sherman last 
as the time when he determined to abandon any further 
prosecution of the struggle; when Lee surrendered, I 

10 say, and Johnston quit, the South became, and has since 
been, loyal to this Union. 

We fought hard enough to know that we were 
whipped, and in perfect frankness accept as final the 
arbitrament of the sword to which we had appealed. 

15 The South found her jewel in the toad's head of defeat. 
The shackles that had held her in narrow limitations 
fell forever when the shackles of the negro slave were 
broken. Under the old regime the negroes were slaves to 
the South; the South was a slave to the system. The 

20 old plantation, with its simple police regulations and 
feudal habit, was the only type possible under slavery. 
Thus was gathered in the hands of a splendid and 
chivalric oligarchy the substance that should have been 
diffused among the people, — as the rich blood, under 

25 certain artificial conditions, is gathered at the heart, 
filling that with affluent rapture, but leaving the body 
chill and colorless. 

The Old South rested everything on slavery and agri- 
culture, unconscious that these could neither give nor 

30 maintain healthy growth. The New South presents a 
perfect democracy, the oligarchs leading in the popular 
movement: a social system compact and closely knitted, 
less splendid on the surface, but stronger at the core ; 
a hundred farms for every plantation, fifty homes for 



252 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

every palace; and a diversified industry that meets the 
complex need of this complex age. 

The New South is enamored of her new work. Her 
soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The 
light of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She 5 
is thrilling with the consciousness of growing power and 
prosperity. As she stands upright, full statured and 
equal among the people of the earth, breathing the 
keen air and looking out upon the expanded horizon, 
she understands that her emancipation came because 10 
through the inscrutable wisdom of God her honest 
purpose was crossed, and her brave armies were beaten. 

This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology. 
The South has nothing for which to apologize. She 
believes that the late struggle between the States was 15 
war and not rebellion; revolution and not conspiracy; 
and that her convictions were as honest as yours. I 
should be unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South 
and to my own convictions if I did not make this 
plain in this presence. The South has nothing to take 20 
back. In my native town of Athens is a monument 
that crowns its central hill — a plain, white shaft. Deep 
cut into its shining side is a name dear to me above 
the names of men — that of a brave and simple man 
who died in a brave and simple faith. Xot for all 25 
the glories of New England, from Plymouth Eock all 
the way, would I exchange the heritage he left me in 
his soldier's death. To the foot of that shaft I shall 
send my children's children to reverence him who enno- 
bled their name with his heroic blood. But, sir, speak- 30 
ing from the shadow of that memory which I honor as 
I do nothing else on earth, I say that the cause in which 
he suffered and for wIhcIi he gave his life was adjudged 
by higher and fuller wisdom than his or mine; and 



THE NEW SOUTH 253 

I am glad that the omniscient God held the balance 
of battle in his Almighty hand, and that human slaver}^ 
was swept forever from American soil — the American 
Union saved from the wreck of war. 

5 This message, Mr. President, comes to you from 
consecrated ground. Every foot of soil about the city 
in which I live is as sacred as a battle-ground of the 
republic. Every hill that invests it is hallowed to 
you by the blood of your brothers who died for your 

10 victory, and doubly hallowed to us by the blood of 
those who died hopeless, but undaunted in defeat: 
sacred soil to all of us; rich with memories that make 
us purer and stronger and better; silent but staunch 
witnesses, in its red desolation, of the matchless valor 

15 of American hearts and the deathless glory of Ameri- 
can arms; speaking an eloquent witness in its white 
peace and prosperity to the indissoluble union of Ameri- 
can States and the imperishable brotherhood of the 
American people. 

20 Now, what answer has New England to this message ? 
Will she permit the prejudice of war to remain in the 
hearts of the conquerors when it has died in the hearts 
of the conquered? Will she transmit this prejudice to 
the next generation, that in their hearts — which never 

25 felt the generous ardor of conflict — it may perpetuate 
itself? Will she withhold, save in strained courtesy, 
the hand which straight from his soldier's heart Grant 
offered to Lee at Appomattox? Will she make the 
vision of a restored and happy people, which gathered 

30 above the couch of your dying captain — filling his heart 
with grace, touching his lips with praise, and glorifying 
his path to the grave — will she make this vision on 
which the last sigh of his expiring soul breathed a 
benediction, a cheat and delusion? If she does, the 



254 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

South, never abject in asking for comradeship, must 
accept with dignity its refusal; but if she does not 
refuse to accept in frankness and sincerity this .message 
of good will and friendship, then will the prophecy 
of Webster, delivered in this very Society forty years 5 
ago amid tremendous applause, become true, be verified 
in its fullest sense, when he said : "Standing hand to 
hand and clasping hands, we should remain united as 
we have been for sixty years, citizens of the same 
country, members of the same government, united, all lo 
united now and united forever." There have been diffi- 
culties, contentions, and controversies, but I tell you 
that in my judgment — 

*' Those opposed eyes, 
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 15 

All of one nature, of one substance bred, 
Did lately meet in the intestine shock 
And furious close of civil butchery, 
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks, 
March all one way.'' 



JOHN MAESHALL 

W. BOURKE COCKRAN 

Delivered at Buffalo, Feb. 14, 1901. 

If there be any one capable of disputing that, aside 
from the establishment of Christianity, the foundation 
of this republic was the most memorable event in the 
history of man, we would not be apt to seek him at 

5 this board or to find him in this country. And if the 
foundation of this government be the most momentous 
human achievement of all the centuries, then clearly 
the appointment of John Marshall to the Chief Justice- 
ship of the United States was the first event of the last 

10 century no less in the magnitude of its importance 
than in the order of its occurrence. 

To the judicial career whose initial stage we cele- 
brate this country mainly owes its independent judi- 
ciary — the unique feature of our political system — the 

15 distinctive contribution of American democracy to the 
civilization of the world — the vital principle of consti- 
tutional freedom — on which depend the strength which 
this government possesses, the fruit which it has borne, 
the cloudless prospect which it enjoys. 

20 It is certainly beyond dispute that this government, 
which is the freest, is also the most stable in the world. 
During the period of its existence what changes have 
swept over the earth, what upheavals have convulsed 
society; what dynasties have been established and over- 

25 thrown ; what empires have risen and fallen ; what polit- 
ical enterprises have been undertaken and abandoned; 

255 



256 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

what constitutions framed in high hopes have perished 
in disappointment and confusion ! It has seen the Whig 
oligarch}', which ruled England for a century and a 
half, give place to a republic preserving the outward 
form of monarchy only to veil the democratic character 5 
of its evolution. It has seen the king who aided these 
colonies to achieve their liberty immolated on the scaf- 
fold in the name of liberty, and France, after stagger- 
ing through anarchy to military despotism, sink back 
into monarchy ; and after again overturning thrones 10 
and stumbling once more into imperialism, while grop- 
ing towards republicanism engage in a third attempt 
to establish some form of constitutional freedom. 

It has seen Prussia rise from the ashes of defeat and 
humiliation, and after humbling the pride of the Haps- 15 
burgs assume the military primacy of Europe when her 
king, raised to imperial dignity on the bucklers of his 
triumphant soldiery, proclaimed a new empire of Ger- 
many in the conquered halls of Louis the Magnificent. 
It has seen the Eepublic^of Venice perish in its age and 20 
decay; the German principalities disappear from the 
banks of the Rhine; the ancient city of Leo and of 
Gregory become the capital of a new kingdom, and 
Spain begin to recover in the cultivation of her own 
lands the prosperity which she sacrificed in attempts to 25 
conquer other lands. It has seen the veil of darkness 
and ignorance ^ent in the East. As I speak, it sees 
the forces of Western civilization standing in the bat- 
tered gateways of Far Cathay. And through all these 
changes, convulsions, revolutions, this republic stands 30 
to-day, as it went into operation one hundred and 
twelve years ago, unchanged in any of its essential 
features, except that its foundations have sunk deeper 
in the affections of the people whose security it has 



JOHN MARSHALL 257 

maintained, whose prosperity it has promoted, whose 
condition it has blessed. 

To what must we attribute this stability which has 
maintained our government unmoved and apparently 

5 immovable on solid foundations amid the upheavals 
which have engulfed ancient systems? It is not ex- 
plained by the lofty purpose which animated its foun- 
ders, because other governments conceived in equally 
high aspirations have perished at the first attempt to 

10 put them in practical operation. It is not because it 
rests on a written Constitution, for the pathway of 
man is strewn with the wrecks of constitutional experi- 
ments. It is not because our Constitution declares cer- 
tain elementary rights of man to be inviolable. Its 

15 provisions in this respect were modeled on existing 
institutions. Their very language was not original. In 
terms as well as in substance they were borrowed from 
other charters of liberty. The French Constitution of 
1793 and the declaration of the rights of man, which 

20 was made a part of it, contained even more elaborate 
provisions for the safety of the individual. But while 
the French Constitution was munificent in its promises 
of privileges to the citizen, the means which it adopted 
to secure them were inadequate and indeed puerile. 

25 You remember how that remarkable document sought 
to enforce its provisions by directing the constitution 
to be "written upon tablets and placed in the midst 
of the legislative body and in public places," that in the 
language of the Declaration "the people may always 

30 have before its eyes the fundamental pillars of its lib- 
erty and strength, and the authorities the standard of 
their duties, and the legislator the object of his prob- 
lem.'^ The Constitution was placed "under the guar- 
antee of all the virtues," and the Declaration concluded 



258 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

by solemnly enacting that "resistance to oppression is 
the inference from the other rights- of man. It is 
oppression of the whole society if but one of its mem- 
bers be oppressed. When government violates the rights 
of the people, insurrection of the people and of every 5 
single part of it is the most sacred of its rights and 
the highest of its duties.'^ 

The framers of that Constitution made the fatal mis- 
take of assuming that to declare certain privileges the 
right of the citizen was equivalent to placing them in 10 
his possession. In practical operation, however, it was 
soon found that the sacred right of insurrection was 
too unwieldy a weapon to be wielded by a single arm. 
"All the virtues" proved but indifferent guardians for 
a Constitution assailed by all the passions. A mob is 
thirsting for the blood of a victim did not pause to 
read the measure of his rights on tablets, however 
legibly inscribed or conspicuously posted. The legis- 
lator menaced by an infuriated populace did not hes- 
tate to seek his own security in the sacrifice of the 20 
lives of thousands without regard to "the object of his 
problem." The Constitution written with so much care, 
acclaimed with so much enthusiasm, adopted with so 
much hope, was suspended even before it went into 
operation. And when on the trial of Danton a decree 25 
was passed authorizing juries to declare themselves satis- 
fied of the guilt of persons accused, at any stage of 
the proceedings against them, the last barrier for the 
protection of the citizen was swept away. Frenzied 
patriots and plotting demagogues combined to produce so 
a wild reign of terror — a saturnalia of assassination. 
Violence became synonymous with patriotism ; to be 
accused was to be condemned; to refuse participation 
in murder was to become its victim; the guillotine 



JOHN MAKSHALL 259 

became the altar of popular sovereignty — exacting hu- 
man sacrifices in ghastly abundance; the blood of the 
best and of the worst; of the most patriotic and of the 
most disaffected; of the philanthropic dreamer and of 

5 the brutal cutthroat; of both sexes, of every age, and of 
all conditions, drenched the soil of France — not as the 
stern ransom of liberty, but as a mad libation to 
anarchy and riot. The Constitution founded to protect 
the rights of man perished miserably after violating 

10 all of them, and republican institutions became dis- 
credited throughout Europe for a century. 

The distinction between our republic and all others 
— which has made it a bulwark of liberty and order, 
while they have generally becomes engines of oppression 

15 and sources of confusion — is not in the varied extent 
of privileges promised by them, but in the different 
means which they provide for their enforcement. Our 
Constitution was not committed to the "care of all the 
virtues,^^ but to the courage, wisdom and patriotism of 

20 an independent judiciary. The whole security of our 
political system rests primarily on Article III of the 
Constitution, which provides that the judicial power of 
the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court 
and in such inferior courts as Congress may from time 

25 to time ordain and establish ; and that the judicial 
power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising 
under the Constitution and laws of the United States 
and treaties made under their authority; to contro- 
versies between two or more States, between a State 

30 and citizens of another State, and between citizens of 
different States. This is the corner-stone of our polit- 
ical structure, but not the force which secures this 
government firmly on its foundations. The experience 
of France, and indeed of this country, shows that con- 



260 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDEESSES 

stitutional provisions of themselves are but mere ad- 
monitions, always disregarded in practice unless ade- 
quate instrumentalities are provided to enforce them. 
The actual character of a constitutional government 
depends less on the words of its Constitution than on 5 
the interpretation which they receive. It was not the 
Constitution as drawm up by its framers, but the Con- 
stitution as interpreted by its judges, which the greatest 
Englishman of modern times described as the most 
perfect work ever struck off at a given time by the lo 
mind of man. Marshall found a plan, he placed it 
in effective operation; he found certain declarations in 
favor of individual safety, he made them the panoply 
of individual rights; he found a written Constitution, 
he made it a constitutional government. 15 

In fixing the credit due to Marshall's judicial career 
it is not necessary to belittle the wisdom and foresight 
of the men who wrote the Constitution. No structure 
can be stronger than its foundation. John Marshall 
could never have raised the Supreme Court from the 20 
weakness in wliich he found it to the power and majesty 
in which he left it if the Constitution had not afforded 
him an adequate field for the fullest exercise of his 
constructive genius. It would be superfluous, in this 
presence, to discuss or even to mention the long series 25 
of decisions through which he made the promises of 
freedom embraced in the Constitution actual possessions 
of the American people. It is enough to say that 
during his judicial service of thirty-four years in de- 
ciding many controversies arising in every part of the so 
Union he succeeded in establishing four great principles 
which underlie our whole constitutional system and 
which constitute its main support: 



JOHN MAESHALL 261 

First — The supremacy of the National Government 
over the States and all their inhabitants. 

Second — The supremacy of the Constitution over 
every department of government. 

5 Third — The absolute freedom of trade and intercourse 
between all the States. 

Eourth — The inviolability of private contracts. 
It is true that these principles are now regarded as 
axioms of civilized society too obvious to be questioned 

10 in a nation capable of constitutional government, but 
the universal respect in which they are held is entirely 
due to the courage, resolution and ability with which 
Marshall asserted and maintained them. If no attempt 
to violate them had ever been made by the States or by 

15 Congress, no occasion would have arisen for the deci- 
sions which vindicate them so clearly that no respectable 
authority can now be found to challenge them. It is 
true, as the distinguished chairman of this banquet 
says, that the supremacy of the Constitution over Con- 

20 gress and the Executive was asserted by Judge Pater- 
son in a charge to a jury delivered long before Marshall 
assumed the ermine. It is equally true that at a still 
earlier period — in 1788 — Alexander Hamilton devoted 
a number of the Federalist — I think it was the 78th — 

25 to proving that it was the right and duty of the ju- 
diciary to set aside a law which contravened the Consti- 
tution. Indeed, I believe the principle had been as- 
serted in some of the colonies before the Eevolution. 
But, Mr. Chairman, there is nothing new under the sun. 

30 Marshall did not discover or establish any new princi- 
ple of liberty, nor did this Constitution embrace one, 
but Marshall did devise an effective plan for making 
declarations of ancient principles practical features of 
civil government. Man can no more invent a new 



262 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

principle than he can invent a new force. The limit 
of human ingenuity is exhausted when new devices are 
found for utilizing forces which are eternal. The force 
which moves the steam engine existed since the begin- 
ning of the world, but it never was available for the s 
use of man till Watt devised an effective machine. 
Liberty was always an aspiration to cherish, but never 
till Marshall made this Constitution effective did liberty 
become a possession to enjoy. 

Marshall brought to the interpretation of the Con- lo 
stitution the love of a patriot, the wisdom of a states- 
man, and the ardor of a partisan. He had followed the 
debates of its framers in Philadelphia; he had success- 
fully urged its adoption in the Virginia Convention 
against the eloquence and overshadowing authority of 15 
Patrick Henry. Every peril which it escaped in the 
progress of its evolution, every criticism of its provi- 
sions, every apprehension expressed of its operations, 
were signal lights, warning him of dangers which 
threatened it and suggesting possibilities of further de- 20 
velopment which in after years he improved to the 
utmost. 

In the very general disposition to treat the Constitu- 
tion as a mere treaty between independent sovereignties 
which might be disregarded at pleasure by any of them 25 
he discerned a danger against which he warned his 
countrymen from the judgment seat almost as soon as 
he ascended it. From 1804 in the cases of the United 
States against Fisher to the last day of his service he 
never missed an opportunity to assert the supremacy of so 
the Federal Government on all matters committed to 
it by the Constitution as the vital principle of our 
national existence, nor to show by irresistible logic that 
to question its sovereignty was to plot its destruction. 



JOHN MARSHALL 263 

This was the doctrine on which patriots always sup- 
ported the Union — for which Webster contended in the 
Senate — for which armies battled during four long 
years, and which was finally affirmed on the battlefield 

5 when the sword of the Confederacy was surrendered to 
the triumphant forces of the republic. 

In the opposition expressed in the Philadelphia Con- 
vention to establishing United States courts of inferior 
jurisdiction and in the suggestion that the enforcement 

10 of the Federal Constitution and laws should be con- 
fided to the State courts, he detected a disposition to 
emasculate the Federal judiciary by making it a body 
without limbs, and when occasion arose in 1809 he 
issued that mandamus to Judge Peters which made the 

15 subordinate courts of the United States the vigorous 
and effective hands of the Constitution — enforcing its 
provisions in every locality — ^bringing the Federal law 
to the doorway of the citizen — maintaining the su- 
premacy of the United States in every square foot of 

20 their territory — without interfering with the power of 
the State to deal with matters concerning itself and its 
own citizens, except to administer its justice according 
to its own laws when they were invoked by a stranger 
against a resident. And when in the subsequent case 

25 of Hunter's Lessee he established the right of the Su- 
preme Court to review any proceedings of a State tri-» 
bunal which involved a question arising under the 
laws or Constitution of the United States, he converted 
the State courts from possible, obstacles to Federal 

80 authority into additional agencies for the enforcement 
of Federal laws. 

In the proposal so strongly urged in the Philadelphia 
Convention to empower the judges of the Supreme 
Court to advise the legislative and the executive depart- 



264 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

ments in the discharge of their functions he detected 
an apprehension that under a republican form of gov- 
ernment parliamentary bodies and executive officers 
might be carried to excesses by violent gusts of popular 
opinion, and in the case of Marbury against Madison 5 
he quieted that distrust forever by assuming for the 
judiciary the right and the duty to enforce the Con- 
stitution against any attempt to invade it by any other 
department, or by all the other departments of gov- 
ernment combined, on the complaint of any citizen lo 
whose rights might be imperiled by the encroachment. 

Freedom of trade between the States was secured 
when in Gibbons against Ogden the jurisdiction of the 
Federal Government was established over the navigable 
waters of the United States, whether inland rivers or 15 
harbors of the sea, and when in the subsequent case of 
Brown against the State of Maryland — which might 
be called the original ^'original package case" — it was 
held that the State had no power to impose any tax 
or duty by way of license or other pretext upon the 20 
products of other States seeking access to its markets. 
To these and the subsequent decisions constituting the 
body of law governing interstate commerce we are in- 
debted for the profound peace which reigns between the 
States ; for if one State had been allowed to impose 25 
<liscriminations in matters of trade or communication 
against the citizens of another, each imposition would 
have been followed by reprisals leading in turn to fresh 
retaliatory measures, until a state of commercial war 
would have been the normal relation between all the 30 
States. It is the history of humanity that a conflict 
of interests is usually followed by a conflict of arms. 

The Dartmouth College case, which established the 
inviolability of contracts, was an industrial bill of rights 



JOHN MARSHALL 265 

to the people of this country. It has proved the very 
fountain of the prosperity which they have achieved 
and of the greater prosperity which awaits them. 
It is surely unnecessary to argue in this presence 

5 that on the sacredness of contracts depends the in- 
dustrial co-operation of man, and co-operation is the 
mainspring of industry. For who would work and toil 
unless he felt that he could exchange the product of 
his labor against the commodities produced by the 

10 labor of others upon conditions of his own making ? 
Who would sow a field, or turn a single furrow with 
the plow, or swing a pickaxe in the bowels of the 
earth, or shiver to-night upon the front platform of 
a street car, if he doubted the payment of the wages 

15 which he had contracted to receive, or if he did not 
know that other men are producing the shoes, and the 
clothes, and the food essential to his existence and which 
they will gladly exchange for the proceeds of his wages 
pursuant to contracts freely made between them? 

20 While the whole industrial activity of man depends 
upon his belief in the fulfillment of contracts, there is 
often a strong tendency in legislatures and governments 
to repudiate debts or obstruct their collection. When, 
therefore, Marshall placed the obligation of contracts 

25 beyond the power of any State to disturb, he made the 
industry of this country the most prosperous in the 
world by making its fruits the most secure. 

If I were to summarize Marshall's service I should 
say that on the solid foundation of the Constitution he 

30 made power, justice, peace and prosperity the four 
great pillars of our governmental system — power by 
establishing the sovereignty of the General Government 
over the States, thus making it the strongest nation in 
the world; justice by establishing the dominion of the 



266 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

Constitution over all the departments of government; 
peace by establishing freedom of intercourse between 
all the States; prosperity by establishing the inviola- 
bility of private contracts. The decisions of Marshall's 
successors, without disturbing these pillars, have 5 
strengthened them, and the stately fabric of government 
which they support. 

The stability of the Union has been secured as much 
by forbearance in refusing to exercise powers not prop- 
erly belonging to it as by firmness in enforcing those lo 
essential to its existence. The inviolability of contracts 
has not been allowed to pen^ert franchises granted for 
the public convenience into monopolies beyond the 
power of the State to control. The right of every citi- 
zen to trade, move or labor everywhere throughout the 15 
whole territory of the United States on equal terms 
with all others has not been allowed to interfere with 
the right of each State to protect health, order and 
morals within its limits — the only restriction on its 
police power being the requirement that every exercise 20 
of it must apply equally to citizen and stranger under 
its jurisdiction. 

It is perhaps the most extraordinary feature of our 
political system as it is the most impressive tribute to 
Marshall's genius that the power of the judiciary — now 25 
unquestioned — to fix the limits of its own authority 
and the authority of all other departments rests not 
upon any specific provision of the Constitution, but 
on a principle of construction first announced authori- 
tatively in the case of Marbury against Madison. The 30 
approval bestowed on that momentous decision and on 
every subsequent amplification of its doctrine has been 
so universal that the judicial department has been en- 
couraged to extend the buckler of its authority over an 



JOHN MAESHALL 267 

ever-widening field, until it has become the dominant 
force in our national life — the one element which 
through all our existence has steadily grown in power 
and beneficence. Never has the Supreme Court exer- 

5 cised its supreme power of setting aside a law of Con- 
gress^ or of a State that the people did not sustain its 
course with substantial unanimity. With the exception 
of the Eleventh Amendment, there is not in the history 
of the United States, or of any State, a single instance 

10 in which the people consented to a constitutional pro- 
vision limiting the power of the judiciary, while the 
tendency everywhere has always been to enlarge it. 
While this respect for the judiciary remains a con- 
spicuous feature of our national life no peril to our 

15 institutions can ever become serious. 

It is often said, and I think with truth, that the close 
of the nineteenth century witnessed a decline in the pop- 
ularity of those parliamentary institutions which, at its 
beginning, were universally believed to be the sure pan- 

20 acea for all social or economic ills. In France, in Aus- 
tria, in Italy and in Spain legislative chambers have 
sunk into universal contempt. Even in England the 
House of Commons has so far declined in popular re- 
spect that the House of Lords now assumes to reject 

25 its measures without fear of popular condemnation. 
In the present temper of the English people, if Edward 
VII. were possessed of real abilities, he might be able 
to impose his authority on both houses. If, for in- 
stance, he were to lift his voice now for justice to the 

30 Boers and denounce the South African war as a con- 
scienceless manoeuvre of parliamentary politicians for 
political advantage, I believe that the conscience of the 
country would sustain him, as I know the public opin- 
ion of the world would applaud him, and Parliament 



268 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

would very probably be compelled to follow him. It 
would need but a few such exercises of leadership to 
make his authority permanent over both houses, for 
obedience is largely habit. Indeed, it is by no means 
impossible that the importance of the Crown, which be- 5 
gan to decline after the death of Elizabeth, may begin to 
revive after the death of Victoria. In this country, rep- 
resentative bodies have not escaped the disrepute which 
has overtaken them in other lands. With us corruption 
is sometimes attributed to Congress, quite generally to 10 
State legislatures, universally to municipal councils. 
But in our government there is one department un- 
tainted by any breath of suspicion, to which the people 
are so passionately attached that the slightest attempt 
to disturb its independence or even to review its de- 15 
cisions at the ballot box would be the ruin of the po- 
litical party suggesting it. Where Parliament is su- 
preme, corruption of legislative bodies undermines the 
life of the whole State, for when the omnipotent source 
of power itself becomes corrupt, all the streams which 20 
flow from it must be tainted, and laws springing from 
greed are sure to be administered for the plunder and 
oppression of the people. Under such conditions indus- 
try languishes, prosperity withers, civilization itself is 
imperiled. But under our democratic government the 25 
right of the citizen to come and go as he pleases, the 
right to enjoy his property, to exchange the product 
of his industry against the commodities produced by 
others, depend not upon the honesty of the legislature, 
or the loyalty of the executive, but upon the virtue and so 
independence of the judiciary. If corruption exists in 
this country it can only affect the bestowal of favors 
by the government, it cannot endanger the life, liberty 
or property of a single individual. There may be par- 



JOHN MAKSHALL 269 

tiality — corruption, if you will — in the bestowal of 
public franchises, of public offices and of public con- 
tracts, but while there is none in the administration of 
justice, while the courts remain true to the example 

5 and precepts of Marshall, all the essential rights of the 
citizen are as secure as the earth under his feet — they 
can no more be invaded than the stars in heaven can be 
blotted from his gaze. 

One hundred years after the establishment of our 

10 Constitution what purpose expressed in its preamble 
remains to be accomplished — what hope cherished by 
its framers is unfulfilled? I know of none. Look 
around you and tell me if this be an idle boast. Has 
not the Union been made perfect through the wisdom 

15 of the great magistrate who showed its necessity and 
the blood of the heroes who cemented it? Is not jus- 
tice firmly established by the unquestioned dominion 
of the Constitution? Is not domestic tranquillity abso- 
lutely insured since perfect freedom of intercourse and 

20 trade removes all provocation to hostile acts or feelings 
between the States? Is not the common defense abun- 
dantly provided for by the overwhelming strength of 
a populous nation whose every inhabitant would die for 
the integrity of its soil and the glory of its flag? Has 

25 not the general welfare been promoted beyond the wild- 
est hopes of the fathers since the security of property 
encourages industry to wring measureless abundance 
from a fruitful soil? Are not the blessings of liberty 
secured for ourselves and our posterity beyond fear of 

30 invasion or danger of abridgment by the effective pro- 
tection which the judiciary casts over the essential 
rights of every citizen ? 

But the authors of this Constitution, in framing Ar- 
ticle III, builded even wiser than they knew. At this 



270 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

moment the court is considering the gravest question 
ever submitted to a judicial tribunal in the history of 
mankind. Within a few days it must decide whether 
the Government of the United States, or rather whether 
two of its departments, can govern territory anywhere 5 
by the sword, or whether authority exercised by officers 
of the United States must be controlled and limited 
everywhere by the Constitution of the United States. 

I do not mention this momentous question to express 
the slightest opinion upon its merits, but merely that 10 
this assemblage of judges and of lawyers may realize 
the part which the judiciary is now required to play in 
determining the influence which this country must 
exercise forevermore in the family of nations. The 
power of Congress to acquire territory is of course un- 15 
questioned, but the disposition to exercise that power 
will always be controlled by the conditions under which 
newly-acquired territory must be held, and these con- 
ditions the court must now prescribe. On the one hand 
it may hold that wherever power is exercised under the 20 
Constitution there the limitations of the Constitution 
must be obeyed — that wherever the Executive under- 
takes to administer, or Congress to legislate, there the 
judiciary must enforce upon both respect for the or- 
ganic law to which they owe their existence. If tliis 25 
doctrine be established it is clear that no scheme of 
forcible conquest will ever be undertaken by this gov- 
ernment, for the simple reason that there can be no 
profit in such an enterprise. On the other hand the 
court may decide that Congress can hold newly-annexed so 
territories on any terms that it chooses — that it may 
govern them according to the Constitution or inde- 
pendently of it — that they may be administered to es- 
tablish justice among the governed or for the glory 



JOHN MAESHALL 271 

and profit of the governors. If it be held that govern- 
ment for profit can be maintained under the authority 
of the United States, conceive the extent to which it 
may be carried and the consequences which it may por- 

5 tend. If it be possible to maintain two forms of gov- 
ernment under our Constitution, it is possible to estab- 
lish twenty in as many different places. Territory may 
be annexed to the North, to the South, to the East 
and to the West. The President of the United States 

10 may be vested with imperial powers in one place, with 
royal prerogatives in another, and perhaps remain a 
constitutional magistrate at home. He may be made 
a military autocrat in some South American state, an 
anointed emperor in some Northern clime, a turbaned 

15 sultan in some Eastern island. Nay, more, Congress 
can move itself and the seat of government from Wash- 
ington to some newly-annexed territory governed by 
officers of its own creation, subject to its own unlimited 
power, and thus take both outside the jurisdiction of 

20 the Supreme Court. 

Has the world ever before seen — could the framers of 
the Constitution have conceived — a bench of judges ex- 
ercising such a power amid the universal submission and 
approval of the whole people. And more extraordinary 

25 than all, this submission remains unanimous though the 
decision of the court may seriously affect its own posi- 
tion in the structure of our government. For if it be 
held that the Constitution does not extend of itself 
over newly-annexed territory, then clearly the authority 

30 of the court cannot extend to it except by the action 
of Congress and the Executive. If the authority, that 
is to say, the existence of the court in any part of the 
territory of the United States, depends upon the other 
departments, then it is idle to contend that it is an 



272 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

independent and co-ordinate branch of the government. 
To decide that the executive and legislative departments 
have the right to govern territory outside the Consti- 
tution the court must deliberately renounce the import- 
ance which it has heretofore enjoyed and accept for 5 
itself an inferior place in our political system. 

To me this is the most sublime spectacle ever pre- 
sented in the history of the world. Think of it! A 
war has been waged with signal success, vast territory 
has been exacted from a conquered foe ; a great po- 10 
litical campaign has been fought and won upon the 
policy of taking this territory and governing it at the 
pleasure of Congress and the Executive, yet if the court 
should hold that what the Executive has attempted, 
what Congress has sanctioned, and what the people 15 
appear to have approved at the polls is in contravention 
of the Constitution, not one voice would be raised to 
question the judgment or to resist its enforcement. I 
have said the spectacle is sublime; my friends, even a 
few weeks ago it was inconceivable. Before the late 30 
election I confess I believed and said that the success 
of the present administration would be interpreted as a 
popular indorsement of its foreign policy and that the 
popular verdict would very probably be made to exer- 
cise a strong if not decisive influence on the court. I 25 
admit now that I was mistaken. It is evident that this 
question will be decided on its merits without the slight- 
est attempt to coerce, intimidate or influence the judges, 
and I say now with all frankness that whatever may 
be the judgment it will be the very best outcome for the 30 
people of this country, for the peace of the world, for 
the welfare of the human race. 

I cannot tell what tliis outcome may be, but I know 
that whenever a crisis has arisen in the pathway of the 



JOHN MARSHALL 273 

isepublic, the statesmanship of the common people has 
always met it with justice and solved it with wisdom. 
Before the close of the civil war, who that paid atten- 
tion to the utterances of journalists, politicians and 

5 publicists — who that heard the famous declaration that 
treason must be made odious; or read the journalistic 
demand for punishments disguised under pleas for pre- 
cautions against any renewal of rebellion; or listened 
to the popular songs proclaiming a firm purpose to 

10 "hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree/' could have 
realized that peace would be restored without the in- 
fliction of a single penalty or the exaction of a single 
sacrifice — that the pacification of the country would be 
accomplished by pardon and not by punishment — and 

15 that five years after the end of the conflict the recon- 
ciliation of the combatants would be so perfect that 
victors and vanquished would alike rejoice at the result ? 
And so, my friends, while no man can predict the solu- 
tion of the question which now perplexes this govern- 

20 ment and this people, the whole history of the United 
States forbids us to fear that it will prove an insuper- 
able obstacle to the progress of liberty, but commands 
us to believe firmly and implicitly that it will become 
a stepping-stone to higher achievements from which, 

25 under the Providence of God and the wisdom of the 
judiciary, this republic will diffuse the light of justice 
still more widely throughout the world. 

I have nothing to recant of what I said on the hust- 
ings; no apology to make for my course during the last 

30 election. Under similar circumstances my words and 
my actions would again be the same; yet, if the court 
decides now, as I hope it will, that the Constitution and 
the Flag are inseparable; that where one waves the 
other must govern, then, indeed, am I prepared to admit 



274 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

freely and cheerfully that the people in deciding as they 
did were wiser than if they had followed my advice. 
For, from my point of view, it will clearly be better 
for the peace of the world and for the happiness of 
mankind if it be established now that the American peo- 5 
pie can never violate justice anywhere than if it had 
been decided at the ballot box last November that this 
generation of Americans had no disposition to per- 
petrate a single act of injustice in the Eastern seas. 

When this momentous question shall have been de- lo 
cided, when this great service shall have been rendered 
to civilization, will the American judiciary have ful- 
filled its mission as an independent department of gov- 
ernment? Shall the judges hereafter be the mere 
arbiters of private disputes ? Will they no longer be 15 
required to display that constructive capacity, that judi- 
cial statesmanship which has proved the safety of our 
Government by fixing the limitations within which its 
power is absolute, beyond which it may not pass ? Great 
as have been the services which the American Judiciary 20 
have rendered already to civilization, I do not believe, 
my friends, that the wisest man can measure the con- 
tributions which it will make to the science of govern- 
ment in the years that are to come. What is the pur- 
pose of government? I believe it was Lord Brougham 25 
who said that the English government with all its 
ramifications, its king and its officers of state, its Houses 
of Parliament and its courts of justice, its lords, its 
commons, and its judges, its armies and its navies, 
all culminated in bringing twelve good men into the so 
jury box. That statement is striking and original, 
but inadequate. The jury is but an incident, — perhaps 
the most important incident, — but still merely an inci- 
dent of government, — not its ultimate object. The ulti- 



JOHN MAKSHALL 275 

mate aim and purpose of government is to promote the 
effective cultivation of the earth that by an increase in 
the volume of its product the number of human beings 
may be multiplied that can be supported upon its sur- 

5 face. The first essential of abundant production is the 
preservation of peace. 

The American judiciary has been the most effective 
agency ever evolved from human wisdom for the vindi- 
cation of justice, and justice is the only reliable founda- 

10 tion of peace. By establishing peace among the States 
it has obviated the necessity for standing armies and in- 
creased immeasurably our national prosperity by direct- 
ing every pair of human hands to the productive employ- 
ments of industry, diverting none to the destructive and 

15 wasteful enterprises of war. Never has a population in- 
creased so rapidly while every increase in the number of 
men has been attended by a still greater increase in their 
possessions. The gloomy theory of Malthus that the 
tendency of population was to grow more rapidly than 

20 the supply of food, and therefore that war, pestilence, 
famine and vice as checks to population were inevitable 
conditions of human life has been refuted and exploded 
by the experience of this country. We have established 
beyond all doubt that the food supply of the earth is 

25 not a limited quantity, but is capable of measureless in- 
crease — that the earth is not an unnatural mother pro- 
ducing creatures beyond her capacity to support, but a 
generous mother ready to yield abundant subsistence to 
every human being engendered upon her bosom, if men 

30 will but approach that fountain of sustenance in peace 
and industrial co-operation. Here at least every man 
produces more than he consumes, and as his surplus 
product goes into the common fund, it widens the field 
of employment for others. Every addition to our popu- 



276 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

lation instead of being an additional charge upon a 
limited food supply is a source of additional abundance. 
If there be any limit on the power of the soil to support 
human beings it is imposed by the wickedness or folly 
of men, not by the parsimony of nature. To support a 5 
population however large, growing in prosperity as it 
grows in numbers, it is only necessary that all men shall 
be allowed to approach the earth in peace, to exercise 
all their faculties in its cultivation, without wasting 
any of their energies in mutual conflict. As our popu- lo 
lation grows the comforts of our citizens grow; their 
houses are larger, their clothing is warmer, their food 
is more abundant, their books are of higher merit, their 
schools are more extensive, their hospitals are more 
efficient, the productive power of their hands is multi- 15 
plied, and the horizon of their hopes is widened. 

The dangers to peace do not all spring from foreign 
aggression, nor are they confined to domestic insurrec- 
tions. A new peril has arisen to disturb industry born 
of the prosperity which it creates. The division of the 20 
earth's product among the laborers who create it has 
provoked conflicts as bitter as any that ever arose over 
the division of the earth's surface among the nations 
which inhabit it. Industrial disturbances cannot be 
settled by force or by mere enactment of statute laws. 25 
Between individuals as between states, peace can never 
be permanent unless it is built upon justice. By ascer- 
taining the true economic laws governing the relations 
of men engaged in production, and by applying them 
fearlessly and impartially to controversies as they arise, 80 
the crowning service of the judiciary will be rendered — 
the final triumph of judicial statesmanship will be 
achieved. I have no fear that this consummation is 
impossible or even remote. Looking back over the his- 



JOHN MARSHALL 277 

tory of this country I cannot entertain a doubt of its 
security or of its future. While the judicial depart- 
ment remains the depositary of our rights and liberties 
— the ark of our political covenant — while the courts 

5 remain the inviolable sanctuary of justice, the Consti- 
tution will remain the secure foundation of the princi- 
ples established by Marshall, and this government will 
continue to be the temple of freedom, the bulwark of 
order, the light of progress, the supreme monument of 

10 what man has achieved, the inspiring promise of the 
boundless future that awaits him. 



PATRIOTISM AND INTERNATIONAL 
BROTHERHOOD 

A baccalaureate address delivered at the University of Michi* 
gan June 23, 1896 

BY JAMES B. ANGELL, LL.D. 

In his great address on Mars Hill, St. Paul declared 
that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men," 
and also that He "hath determined the bounds of their 
habitation." 

The brotherhood and the separateness of nations are 5 
thus clearly set forth as of divine appointment. If they 
are so, they must be compatible with each other. It 
must be possible and right for nations to lead each a 
separate life, and yet to live in brotherly relations. 
There must then be some proper way of cherishing the lo 
sentiment of patriotism and at the same time a brother- 
ly regard for mankind. 

We profess, as individuals and as a nation, to be gov- 
erned by the principles of Christian, ethics. We are 
all agreed that patriotism is so commendable a virtue 15 
that we despise, if we do not hate, a citizen who is de- 
void of it. We are all agreed that our nation, if it is to 
be respected by others or by us, must maintain its rights 
with dignity and self-respect. 

Wliile our country cherishes this spirit of manly in- 20 
dependence, what attitude should it hold toward other 
countries? What spirit should wc cherish toward other 
peoples? What relations should we aim to hold with 
them? These are questions which it seems proi)er that 

278 



PATRIOTISM AND BEOTHERHOOD 279 

you should consider in a spirit at once Christian and 
patriotic, as you are about to go forth into active life, 
where you will play an important part in shaping public 
opinion. I believe it is not unbecoming the day or the 

5 occasion that answer to them should be sought in the 
spirit of devotion to our country, of love to our race, 
and of reverence to the Father of nations. 

Perhaps at the outset we should ask whether it really 
is possible for us to cherish the sentiment of patriotism 

10 and at the same time the spirit of brotherhood towards 
the citizens of other nations. Some distinguished 
writers, like the Eussian, Count Tolstoi, have main- 
tained that the spirit of brotherhood ought to over- 
power and drown out the feeling of special devotion to 

15 one's own country. That eminent author goes so far as 
to say : "If patriotism is good, then Christianity, which 
gives peace, is an empty dream." There is a story that 
the great and good Fenelon once said: "I love my 
family better than myself; I love my country better 

20 than my family ; but I love the human race better than 
my country." The parable of the good Samaritan has 
been cited as condemning patriotism. No doubt that 
wonderful parable, which more than almost any other 
teaching of Christ, shows the extraordinary reach of 

25 his mind beyond the prevalent ideas of his day, does bid 
us regard the remotest dweller on the other side of the 
earth as our neighbor, and commands us to do what we 
may for his help. 

But, after all, we cannot forget that God has set us 

30 first in families, then in nations. Our primary rela- 
tions to our families are necessarily closer than our rela- 
tions to the race. We may, however, find it our duty in 
the spirit of Fenelon's words, to tear ourselves away 
from our families and give our services and lives to our 



280 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

nation. We may find it our duty, like many mission- 
aries, to tear ourselves away both from family and 
nation, to give our services and lives to mankind. It 
is obvious that the tenderest love for our families may 
co-exist with genuine love for our country, and the most 5 
ardent patriotism may not divest us of genuine love for 
our race. The contradiction which Tolstoi sees between 
patriotism and Christianity does not necessarily exist. 
They are not exclusive of each other. 

Duties grow out of relations and are correlative with lo 
them. Our relations as children to our parents impose 
on us filial duties. God having set men in nations, the 
citizens of each nation owe special duties to each other 
and to their country. These are patriotic duties. So, 
too, each nation, our nation, must watch and work with 15 
special interest for its own welfare, while it cherishes a 
proper interest in the well-being of all mankind, and 
carefully abstains from injustice to any nation. Such 
a course is no more to be criticised as selfish than is the 
devotion by a man of his time and efforts to the support 20 
and well-being of his own family or of himself. 

Providentially we are so situated that it has been easy 
for us, with a genuine patriotism, to develop our re- 
sources and to attend to our own affairs without much 
complication with the great powers of the world, and 25 
without cherishing sharp animosities toward them. 
None of the states south of us have been strong enough 
to be a menace to us. The ocean has been our great 
bulwark against encroachments from the east. From 
the moment that we escaped in 1798 from an 30 
entangling alliance with France, we have, with a wise 
instinct, obeyed the counsel of Washington to avoid any 
such alliance with transatlantic powers. All their 
dynastic disputes, their questions of balance of power, 



PATEIOTISM AND BEOTHEEHOOD 281 

their quarrels about title to territory, their envyings 
and jealousies, which have compelled them to weigh 
themselves down with taxation for the support of great 
standing armies and immense navies, and have often in- 

5 volved them in dreadful wars, have not much con- 
cerned us and have given us no serious trouble. Their 
populations, sighing for our lives of peace and pros- 
perity, have been hurrying by hundreds of thousands 
yearly to our shores to share in our comfort and hap- 

10 piness. However eagerly any one of the European 
nations may be watching to catch another at some dis- 
advantage and fall upon it in war, not one of them 
desires aught but peace with us. More than once some 
of them have settled disputes with us by peaceful 

15 methods, which they could hardly have settled with 
each other save by war. It would, therefore, seem to 
be both wise and easy to continue our traditional policy 
of refraining from any part in purely European con- 
troversies, and to content ourselves with securing a just 

20 settlement of questions which grow directly out of our 
commercial intercourse with them. 

On the other hand, there was a rational ground for 
the satisfaction w4th which we saw France, Spain and 
Portugal withdraw from the American continent. Espe- 

25 cially were we constantly menaced with serious trouble 
with Spain so long as her territory touched ours. 
Though the Latin-American races, who inhabit the 
domain which stretches from our southern border to 
Cape Horn, have yet much to learn about the just ad- 

30 ministration of republican forms of government, it is, 
in my opinion, a wise policy for our government to dis- 
courage the acquisition by European powers of any more 
territory on our continent than they now possess. If 
they are permitted to begin the carving up of the Cen- 



282 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

tral and South American states according to the process 
by which they are grabbing all the most desirable terri- 
tory of the African continent, we shall be in danger of 
having European controversies, from which we have 
kept aloof, transferred to our own neighborhood. There 5 
seems to be no indication that any European power is 
inclined to absorb any of the states of Central or South 
America, or would venture to do so, in the face of our 
strenuous protest. 

There appears, therefore, every reason to hope that if lo 
we pursue a policy of moderation, justice and firmness 
towards other nations, without being drawn into Euro- 
pean entanglements or indulging in gratuitous exas- 
perations of other powers, we may be left undisturbed 
in the enjoyment of peace and prosperity. 15 

But it is too much to expect that questions will not 
arise from time to time — many of them serious and dif- 
ficult questions — between us and other nations. We 
have of late years had several such problems, especially 
in our relations with Great Britain. War, according to 20 
modern methods, is such a dreadful calamity that 
recently attention has been called afresh to the inquiry 
whether we may not make provisions with some nations, 
if not with many nations, for the establishment of an 
international court, to which difficulties that cannot be 25 
adjusted by the ordinary processes of diplomacy, may be 
referred for settlement. 

It is conceded on all hands that this nation is most 
happily situated to take the lead in so beneficent a move- 
ment. Our geographical isolation frees us from many 20 
embarrassments which a European continental power 
might encounter in taking the initiative. We have 
already been conspicuous in our efforts to diminish and 
to avoid the evils of war. We were the first to empha- 



PATEIOTISM AND BEOTHEEHOOD 283 

size the rights and duties of neutrals. We have already 
been engaged in more than four score arbitrations, two 
of which, that of the Geneva Tribunal for the settle- 
ment of the Alabama cases, and that of the Paris Trib- 

5 unal for the adjustment of the Behring sea question, 
are the most famous and important in history. We 
can afford to propose a system of arbitration to the 
world just because we are strong. Our motives are not 
likely to be misinterpreted. Conscious that no nation 

10 would presume to attack us for slight cause, we can 
with dignity and self-respect commend to all nations 
the peaceful method of settling controversies. 

The events of our great civil war and its happy ter- 
mination in the preservation of the union have left two 

15 marked results on the spirit of our people. 

First. It has caused a great strengthening of the 
national feeling. A new and profound interest in our 
history has been developed. This is shown by the 
organization of historical societies, and by the new 

20 activity of old societies, by the publication of numerous 
books on our national career, and by the establishment 
of various associations of the descendants of the revolu- 
tionary or pre-revolutionary men. A most commend- 
able national pride manifests itself in a thousand ways. 

25 And, secondly, the nation has risen to a new con- 
sciousness of its military strength. After setting on 
foot the immense armies maintained by the union and 
confederate parties during our war, and carrying on the 
contest on such a grand scale for four long years, with a 

30 valor and endurance never surpassed, it is not strange 
that we should regard ourselves as one of the great mili- 
tary states of the world. 

Commendable as is this pride in our history, and 
justifiable as is this confidence in our martial strength, 



284 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

tliey expose us to some dangers from the spirit they 
engender in persons of a certain aggressive and testy 
temperament. Instead of cherishing a calm and digni- 
fied sense of national power, which is sure that we can, 
without bluster or unnecessary sensitiveness at every idle 5 
word that is flung at us, make ourselves respected, it is 
disposed to be defiant, to indulge in challenges to all 
the world, to be needlessly boastful of our strength, to 
be too quick to interpret any unwelcome words from 
abroad as an insult, and so to generate friction between 10 
us and other nations. That in certain quarters there is 
somewhat too much of this spirit, I think must be 
obvious to all sober-minded men. 

The spirit, which should be fostered by our patriotic 
pride and by our consciousness of strength, is that of 15 
quiet confidence in our power and of serene faith that 
no nation will lightly involve itself in serious difficulty 
with us. If there were no other reason for this faith, 
the delicate equipoise by which the great powers of Eu- 
rope are kept from war with each other affords a suf- 20 
ficient ground for it. What European state could now 
be engaged in strife with us without exposing itself at 
once to attack from some one of its neighbors, who 
would welcome the opportunity? Their relations with 
each other put them under bonds to keep the peace with 25 
us, if it is possible for them to do so. 

Not that we should diminish our present military and 
naval establishment. Our army is none too large, per- 
haps hardly large enough, for the police power which it 
is called to exercise over our large expanse of territory, so 
Our navy is none too powerful to represent us and pro- 
tect our citizens and their interests in the various coun- 
tries of the world. The coast defenses of some of our 
great cities might well be strengthened. I regard the 



PATKIOTISM AND BKOTHEKHOOD 285 

maintenance of a moderate force and of defenses of our 
chief harbors as peace measures, which will make 
nations hesitate about imposing on us. It was a humili- 
ating spectacle and a dangerous situation when a few 
5 years ago the little state of Chili, with her two or three 
ironclads, was in a condition to defy our wooden navy. 
Nevertheless, it remains true that we need not be 
bristling with excitement about the constant danger of 
attack from foreign powers, but that our attitude to- 

10 ward them should be one of dignified independence and 
of a friendly desire to settle all questions with them on 
a just and reasonable basis by peaceful methods. 

Of late years there have been some notable expres- 
sions in favor of the arbitral settlement of controversies 

15 between nations. Eesolutions in favor of it have been 
adopted by the Swiss assembly, the Swedish diet, the 
Belgian parliament, the Dutch states-general, the 
French parliament, the British parliament and by our 
congress. The Institute of International Law, a body 

20 composed of the leading publicists of Europe, have taken 
the pains to work out a formal plan of international 
arbitration. President Cleveland in a message to con- 
gress and Lord Salisbury in a public interview this last 
week have emphatically commended arbitration. A 

25 body of three hundred men, representing forty states of 
the union, and comprising many men of high influence 
and reputation, have recently held a meeting in Wash- 
ington for the express purpose of urging our govern- 
ment to establish a permanent court of arbitration at 

36 once with Great Britain, if practicable, and as soon as 
possible with other nations. The reasons why it is pro- 
posed to begin with Great Britain are that not only 
members of parliament, but also many other conspicu- 



286 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

ous British subjects, and some influential bodies, as, for 
instance, the Association of Dissenting Churches and 
the British Chamber of Commerce of London, have 
favored the plan, and because these two nations. Great 
Britain and the United States, have a common Ian- 5 
guage, similar laws, like judicial traditions, and the 
most extensive and intimate commercial relations, and, 
furthermore, because they have already settled some of 
their most important controversies by arbitration. 

It is therefore believed to be easier for them to set lo 
up a permanent system of arbitral adjudication with 
each other than for several nations in the present state 
of public opinion to establish such a system. This is 
not the place to consider the form of a court. But it 
is believed by eminent jurists and statesmen that one 15 
can be constituted by Great Britain and the United 
States whose decisions would command the assent of 
both nations. 

Let it not be supposed that all this is the mere dream 
of Utopians. It is conceded that there are some ques- 20 
tions which no nation can submit to arbitration. It can 
submit no questions involving its independence or 
autonomy or the substantial integrity of its territory. 
There are some questions of honor which a nation can- 
not submit. But there is a very large class of questions 25 
covering most of those which arise in the ordinary inter- 
course of nations, which can be properly left to arbitra- 
tion, if diplomacy cannot dispose of them. Such are 
claims for indemnity to citizens or to a state for injuries 
done. Such are questions touching the interpretation 30 
or execution of treaties. Such are boundary disputes not 
seriously involving the integrity of territory. Such are 
certain rights of navigation and fisheries. Any or all 



FATKIOTISM AND BKOTHEEHOOD 287 

of these could wisely and safely be referred to a com- 
petent court, as wisely and safely as we refer contro- 
versies between the states of this union to the Supreme 
Court of the United States. 

5 If now this country and Great Britain can demon- 
strate the practicability and usefulness of an arbitral 
court, it is hoped that the chief European nations, who 
are not so grievously burdened by the maintenance of 
enormous armaments and the constant solicitude about 

10 the outbreak of war, may imitate our example. These 
two great English-speaking nations have a most con- 
spicuous, if not a dominant, part to play in spreading 
civic freedom and Christian civilization through the 
world. If they can avoid serious dissensions with each 

15 other and be true to their traditions of liberty and faith, 
it seems hardly possible to exaggerate the influence they 
may wield for good. Can there be any greater aid to 
their unity of action, any better guaranty of their co- 
operation in promoting the spirit of peace among 

20 nations than their adoption of a permanent system of 
arbitration with each other? 

Let me repeat, it is not proposed to leave ourselves 
unprotected against danger, to surrender a solitary right 
of an American citizen anywhere on the face of the 

25 earth, to submit tamely to insult and injury from any 
power, to abate in the slightest degree the most ardent 
spirit of patriotism. Thank God, the day is long since 
past when any nation claims the right or ventures in 
defiance of right to lay hands on any man sailing in re- 

30 motest seas under the American flag. In the council 
halls of negotiation our diplomatists meet on equal 
terms with those of the proudest powers of the world. 
With perfect self-respect, nay because of our self- 



288 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

respect, we can afford to lay aside all petty jealousies of 
other nations, that inflammable sensitiveness which is a 
sign of weakness, that combative spirit, which is fling- 
ing out constant challenges. "We can with manly dig- 
nity make it apparent to the world that we seek peace 5 
with all nations, but that we know our rights, and are 
bound, if necessary, to defend them with our good right 
arms, that much as we dislike war, we believe there are 
calamities more dreadful than war, and that we are 
ready to resort to war to avert them. But with the lo 
same manly dignity we can show to mankind that we 
are willing to submit to a properly constituted arbitral 
court all questions which are suited for arbitrament, 
and that by our words and our example we desire to 
commend to all nations this peaceful method of dispos- 15 
ing of most international controversies, which cannot 
be adjusted by the usual methods of diplomacy. 

I have thought it wise to direct your attention to this 
theme at this time, since you, as educated citizens, go 
out now into life to exercise an exceptional influence on 20 
public opinion, and I wish you to exercise a wise and 
conservative influence in shaping our policy towards 
other nations. Occasionally I hear the charge that life 
in our American colleges and universities is tending to 
beget a spirit of languid patriotism and political indif- 25 
ference in the students. I believe the charge to be 
utterly without foundation. It probably grows from 
the fact that after the careful study of economic and 
historical subjects, many young men find themselves 
unable to assent unqualifiedly to the sweeping or am- 30 
biguous statements of some political platforms. But 
with the recollections fresh in our memories of the days 
when so many of the bravest and best of our young men 



FATKIOTISM AND BEOTHEEHOOD 289 

rushed from these halls and from every college to the 
battlefield, many of them, alas ! never to return, it is 
difficult to imagine how any one can question the burn- 
ing patriotism of the American students. There is no 

5 brighter chapter in the history of our civil war than 
that which records the valor of the young men who 
rushed from the colleges to the front in 1861. No more 
is it true that the college students are not deeply inter- 
ested in our political affairs, though it may be true, as it 

10 should be, that they are disposed to use their independ- 
ent judgment in deciding on political doctrines. 

It is because I have this confidence in your patriotism 
and your purpose to bring a calm and thoughtful con- 
sideration to public questions that I have asked you 

15 to-night to reflect on what is our proper attitude as a 
Christian nation towards the other great powers, and 
especially on our duty in establishing an arbitral ar- 
rangement for the settlement of international difficul- 
ties. The European nations have cheerfully recognized 

20 the great services we have rendered to mankind by labor- 
ing for the vindication and the enlargement of the 
rights of neutrals and by furnishing so many illustrious 
examples of arbitration. They envy us for our exemp- 
tion from the dreadful military burdens under which 

25 they groan. Is there any higher and nobler service we 
can proffer them than by showing them how to escape 
in many cases the dread arbitrament of war by the estab- 
lishment of permanent courts? No nation questions 
our military strength. All nations will listen with re- 

30 spect to our appeal for peaceful methods of settling con- 
troversies and will watch with sympathetic interest our 
well considered efforts to introduce these methods in our 
own intercourse with other powers. Eemembering that 



290 AMERICAN PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

"God hath made of one blood all nations of men/' what 
higher honor can we wish for our people than that they 
should add to all their triumphs in the industrial arts 
and in the establishment of free and republican institu- 
tions the splendid triumph of teaching all nations to 5 
live together as brothers under the blessed command of 
the Prince of Peace. 



NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS 

PATKICK HENKY'S SPEECH IN THE SECOND EEVO- 
LUTIONAKY CONVENTION OF VIRGINIA 

THE SPEAKER. 

Patrick Henry (1736-1799) entered the Virginia House of 
Burgesses in 1765, the year of the Stamp Act, and almost 
immediately became the leader of those who wished to resist 
Parliament's colonial measures. This brought him into oppo- 
sition also to the aristocratic element of the colony. It was 
in a speech on his own resolution, declaring that the colony 
had never forfeited the right to be taxed by its own repre- 
sentatives, that he startled even the most radical by his out- 
burst, ** Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, 
and George the Third — [Cries of ** Treason! Treason!"] — 
may profit by their example." Following the Boston Port 
Bill, Lord Dunmore dissolved the Virginia House of Burgesses. 
In August of the same year (1774) the First Eevolutionary 
Convention of Virginia, of which Henry was a member, met 
and chose him a delegate to the First Continental Congress, 
which met in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. The Second 
Eevolutionary Convention of Virginia assembled in the old 
church at Eichmond, March 20, 1775. Henry was a member 
and moved the adoption of resolutions for the establishment 
of a well-regulated militia, ''that this colony be immediately 
put into a posture of defence." In moving the resolutions, 
he made the speech that we are studying. In the legislature 
and in the various conventions, Henry was not merely the 
orator; he was a worker on committees and was esteemed for 
practical business sagacity. He was made commander of the 
two regiments enlisted in Virginia "and of all to be enlisted"; 
was Governor of Virginia 1776-1779 and 1784-1786, serving 
again in the legislature in the interim. He was chosen to the 
convention that was called to meet in Philadelphia in 1787 
for revising the Articles of Confederation, but refused to 
attend. Bad as a weak confederation was, he feared that a 
strong central government would prove worse, since it might 
enable one section of the country to oppress another. The 

291 



292 NOTES 

immediate cause of this fear was the proposal to surrender 
by treaty to Spain the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty 
to thirty years, to the great injury of the South and West. 
He opposed, therefore, the ratification by Virginia of the 
present Federal Constitution. 

THE AUDIENCE. 

Henry's audience was composed of his fellow-members of 
the Second Revolutionary Convention of Virginia. All were 
patriots; all were essentially in revolution; probably all 
believed that war was now inevitable; yet not all of them 
thought it prudent or timely to speak and to act as if no hope 
of a peaceful settlement were possible. No public body in 
America, and no public man, had as yet openly declared war 
to be unavoidable; for, to do so would be equivalent to de- 
claring Avar Patrick Henry's object was to convince the more 
timid of his hearers that the time had come to speak out the 
fact and to act accordingly. 

EXEECISES. 

What parts of the speech are plainly directed to those who 
thought the resolutions premature? What use of the argument 
from experience do you find in this speech? What use of the 
method of exclusion? What use of facts? What use of infer- 
ences from facts? The rhetorical question? Note the two 
points of climax. On the manner of the speaker, the immediate 
effect of the speech, and the doubtful authenticity of the ver- 
sion which has come down to us, consult Tyler's Patrick Heiiry, 
pp. 140-151 (American Statesmen Series). What two passages 
in the speech are pure excitation? 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: A MOTION FOR PRAYERS 

THE SPEAKER. 

Franklin's dates are 1706-1790. In colonial days he had 
been post-master general for the Crown in North America 
and colony agent for Pennsylvania in London. In 1775-6 
he was delegate to the Continental Congress; in 1778, Minister 
to France. In 1785, after the treaty of peace, which was 
mainly due to his diplomatic skill, he became President (Gov- 
ernor) of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1787. He is the only American 
who requires a volume in all three of- the series devoted to 



NOTES 293 

our great men: The American Statesmen Series, The Ameri- 
can Men of Letters Series, The American Men of Science 
Series; and should there be a series devoted to American 
Educators, Franklin might easily be included in that also, on 
account of his active interest in higher learning and his con- 
nection with what is now the University of Pennsylvania. See 
also Atlantic, XII, 29; Parton: Life of Franklin; Sparks: 
Life and WorTcs of FranTclin; Hildreth: History of the U. S., 
volume II. 

MEANS OF PERSUASION. 

Persuasion may arise from the adaptation of matter to 
audience, from the situation and the facts, or from the speaker. 
In this speech it arises partly from the desperate situation of 
a five weeks' disagreement in which the Constitutional Con- 
vention found itself on the question of equal representation for 
large and for small states; but mainly from the character, the 
age, and the antecedents of the speaker. The aged Franklin 
had been included in Pennsylvania's delegation to the conven- 
tion in order that, in the possible absence of George Washing- 
ton, there might be present the one other man whom all could 
agree in calling to the chair. Franklin was veritably the sage 
of America; acknowledged to be first in worldly wisdom and in 
knowledge of human nature; and, on account of his long expe- 
rience in foreign courts, able to bring to all questions a test 
furnished by an international point of view. Skeptical in 
religious matters, as judged by the standards of his own day, 
self-reliant, and confident in man's unaided power to overcome 
all difficulties, Franklin must have shocked his audience into 
a perception of the momentous gravity of the crisis by making 
this motion for prayers. He was probably the one man from 
whom such a motion would have been least expected by the 
superficial. The situation is not without its humor, for the 
motion was opposed by one of the most religious men of the 
convention, Alexander Hamilton, who feared that a resort to 
prayer would apprize the public of the truly desperate state 
of things within the convention hall. Franklin's motion was 
not adopted; but its effect can be traced in the fact that the 
convention remained at work and set diligently about a com- 
promise on the vexed question of representation as between 
small states and large states, finding a compromise at last in 
a suggestion of Franklin himself, that states should vote as 
equals on certain questions, but according to population on 
money bills, — a scheme which later he developed into the plan 
of equal representation in the Senate and proportionate repre- 
sentation in the House, as we now have it. 



294 NOTES 



ON SALARIES. 

When President (Governor) of Pennsylvania Franklin de- 
voted his whole salary to public uses, as Washington had done 
when general of the armies. The persuasive power of being 
known to practice what one preaches must have added strength 
to Franklin's argument. Franklin's private fortune happily en- 
abled him to carry out the idea; though it was not deemed 
practicable for adoption as a constitutional requirement. Frank- 
lin 's prophecy (p. 40, 11. 28-31) has been fulfilled in several 
conspicuous cases. 

EXERCISES. 

Make a brief of this speech on salaries, following the form 
employed in the brief of Hamilton 's speech given in the Intro- 
duction (p. 18). Make a brief of a speech in refutation of 
Franklin 's proposition. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON ON COERCION OF DELIN- 
QUENT STATES 

THE SPEAKER. 

At the time this speech was delivered, Hamilton (1757-1804) 
was but thirty-one years old; yet he was already a national 
figure, not only on account of his service with Washington in 
the army and his experience in Congress, but especially on 
account of his influence in bringing about the Constitutional 
Convention and in helping to shape its course. He delivered 
but one speech in the convention itself, and that was in favor 
of a more strongly centralized and aristocratic government 
than the Constitution that was finally adopted provided for; 
but its effect was to strengthen and embolden the friends of 
centralization in the convention. In order to win New York 
to ratify the new constitution, Hamilton had to overcome a 
large hostile majority that was backed by Governor Clinton. 
Under the name of **Publius," assisted by Madison and Jay, 
he wrote the remarkable series of papers supporting and ex- 
pounding the new Constitution, now known as the * * Federal- 
ist. ' ' In the convention of New York, day after day, Hamil- 
ton fought a bitterly contested struggle and finally won the 
delegates to ratify, by the narrow margin of three votes, 
including the vote of the opposing leader, Melancton Smith, 
who admitted that he had been convinced by Hamilton's argu- 
ments. Later, as Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, he 
brought forward and secured the passage of that wonderful 



NOTES 295 

series of financial measures which gave the new Federal Govern- 
ment sound credit abroad and power and respect at home. 

MEANS OF PERSUASION. 

Hamilton's power lay in complete mastery of his subject. 
This included not merely profound knowledge of it, but the 
power of keen analysis, logical arrangement of arguments, 
and direct and forceful statement. With no gift for imagery, 
he convinced his hearers by the clearness of his reasoning 
and the energy, whole-heartedness, and ardor of his presenta- 
tion. A brief of the speech is given in the introduction. This 
version of the speech is probably only an imperfect outline, as 
Hamilton spoke extemporaneously and there was no systematic 
reporting in those days. 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDEESS 

AUTHORSHIP. 

The first draft of most of Washington's state papers was 
prepared by others. The papers were not, however, given out 
until revised, well considered, digested, and rewritten by 
Washington himself. In 1792, Madison, at Washington's 
request, furnished him a draft of an address to the American 
people on Washington's expected retirement. Having been 
prevailed upon to accept a second term, Washington did not 
again take up the project of a farewell address until 1796. 
The address was dated September 17, 1796, and contains some 
suggestions from Madison's former draft and some from Ham- 
ilton. ' ' The copy from which the final draft was printed . . . 
is wholly in the handwriting of Washington. It bears all the 
marks of a most rigid and laborious revision. ' ' Sparks : WriU 
ings of Washington, Vol. XII, appendix. 

THE OCCASION AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES. 

What is excellent in literature is preserved because of the 
universal element of truth and the evidence of great per- 
sonality in it. Even though utterly ignorant of the historical 
facts back of Washington's Farewell Address and unac- 
quainted with the life of Washington, a reader could not miss 
the appeal of the great national principles which the address 
embodies; nor could he escape the feeling that he is in the 
presence of a great and admirable personality. A knowledge 
of the facts and of the life, however, would greatly deepen 



296 NOTES 

appreciation. Recall in connection with the introduction 
of the address (p. 48 — p. 51, 1. 15) the great debt of 
gratitude which the country owed to Washington for 
his services in the Eevolution. Recall the fact that he was 
probably the only American who could have gotten the new 
government under way amid the perplexities that arose after 
the dismal failure of the old Confederation. Recall the bitter 
and unjust criticism of his administration and of himself. 
And then note the spirit of good-will, concern for the public 
welfare, and dignified modesty where much personal credit 
might have been claimed. The first topic of the discussion 
(p. 51, 1. 16 — p. 54, 1. 27) enjoins love of country, pride 
in the national union. There were still a great many Ameri- 
cans who remained in the colonial condition of mind, who 
took their politics from abroad, and thought politically as 
Frenchmen or as Englishmen rather than as Americans. There 
was also considerable unfriendliness and jealousy between 
North and South, East and West, — a feeling that appears 
to this day on occasion, usually showing itself in connection 
with tariff bills, or discussions of the money question, or the 
bank question. The logic of Washington's first topic will be 
keenly felt by the student who is informed about the attitude 
of different sections of our country towards the Assumption 
Bill, the National Bank, the Excise Bill, the Whiskey Insur- 
rection, the Genet Affair, the Jay Treaty, the Spanish Treaty, 
the Proclamation of Neutrality. (See any of the larger his- 
tories: Hildreth, volumes III-V; Schouler, volume I; Sparks, 
Life and Writings of Washington, or the volumes in the 
American Statesmen Series on Washington, Jefferson, Hamil- 
ton, and Jay.) That the warning was timely will be clear to 
those who recall the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 
1798, and the rumors of secession in connection with theie 
and with the Hartford Convention sixteen years later. Wash- 
ington next takes up more specifically (p. 54, 1. 28 — p. 58, 1. 4) 
the danger to the Union arising from political parties based 
on geographical lines, and here refers by name to the treaties 
with Spain and England, thereby recalling the agitation, based 
on sectional lines and on foreign aflSliations, that was aroused 
by the proposal of these treaties. (See Lodge: George Wash- 
ington, vol. II, pp. 135, 167, 180, 201, 205.) He next empha- 
sizes the need of an adequate central government (p. 55, 1. 26) 
and of obedience to it (p. 56, 1. 9), warning against combina- 
tions and factions (p. 56, 1. 19) and against the spirit of 
innovation. (Lodge: Washington, II, 266-268.) 'The discus- 
sion of party spirit (p. 58, 1. 4 — p. 59, 1. 23) recalls the fact 
that Washington entered upon the Presidency with the impos- 
sible expectation that parties could be eliminated from govern- 



NOTES 297 

ment. His cabinet, however, represented in Hamilton and 
Jefferson respectively, the two principles along which parties 
speedily formed. (Alexander Johnston: American Politics.) 
The Farewell Address is to be read as his final judgment that 
parties are inevitable, but excessive party spirit is forever to 
be repressed in a free country. (See chapter V, vol. II of 
Lodge's biography, on ^'Washington as a Party Man.") It 
is a corollary of this that a party when in power should pro- 
ceed with moderation and not in a spirit of vengeance, and 
should keep well within constitutional limitations (p. 59, 1. 24 
—p. 60, 1. 17). The next section of the address (p. 60, 1. 18 — 
p. 61, 1. 12) should recall the words of the Ordinance of 1787. 
On public credit and acquiescence in revenue laws (p. 61, 1. 13 
— p, 62, 1. 4), the experience of Washington's administration 
with Hamilton's financial measures and with the Whiskey 
Insurrection, plainly speaks. (See Lodge: Washington, II, 
122-128). The last topic of the discussion (p. 62, 1. 5— p. 68, 
1. 7) deals with the principles that should govern our country's 
foreign policy. The inveterate antipathy against England and 
the passionate attachment for France are alike condemned 
(p. 62, 1. 22), though the countries are not named. Pages 63 
and 64 recall the Genet Affair, with the attendant exhibitions 
of foolish popular affection for France and equally foolish 
popular hatred for England; and the disgraceful intriguing 
of one American faction with the French minister to the United 
States. (See Lodge: Washington, II, chapter IV.) The great 
rule of conduct (p. 64, 11. 24-28) in foreign affairs, as laid 
down by Washington, was nobly fulfilled in the diplomacy of 
the late John Hay, Secretary of State. In closing with a 
defense of the Proclamation of Neutrality, Washington reached 
a true climax, a fact not generally appreciated today; for that 
proclamation embodied, in effect, all the fundamental principles 
laid down in the Farewell Address. It meant national soli- 
darity against the world, as opposed to a divided nation with 
conflicting sympathies running wildly in favor of one foreign 
country or another. The conclusion (p. 68, 11. 8-30), like the 
introduction, illustrates the highest use of personal reference. 
But the evidence of great and admirable personality is found 
not merely in the sentiments of the introduction and the con- 
clusion. It appears in the magnanimous and perfectly adequate 
treatment of the principles announced one after another in 
the body of the discourse; in the final character and nobility 
of those principles; in the repression of the controversial spirit 
and the choice of the highest plane of discussion. If the 
address had been written in the spirit of controversy, it must 
have remained on the low plane of fact; it comes to us not on 
that plane, but on the plane of truth. The next speech in this 



298 NOTES 

volume, Webster on the Character of Washington, contains an 
exposition of the main truths of the Farewell Address. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES. 

Make a complete outline of the address, following the form 
of the outline of Webster's Bunker Hill Monument Address 
as given in the Introduction to this volume (p. 16). Are the 
topics of the address related to one another by the law of 
cause and effect, or by similarity and contrast, or by conti- 
guity? What passages or maxims would you select for memo- 
rizing? What audience is Washington addressing? Do you 
find the appeal to community of interest anywhere plainly 
expressed? Does the persuasion arise from the subject, the 
method of treatment, or speaker (p. 293)? What does Wash- 
ington mean by the distinction between political and commercial 
in our dealings with foreign nations? Is there any ground for 
thinking that the principles of the address are in any respect 
obsolete? On the immediate effect of the Farewell Address, 
see Lodge 's Washington, volume II, pages 248-251. 

DANIEL WEBSTEE: THE CHAEACTER OF 
WASHINGTON 

THE SPEAKER. 

When this speech was delivered, in 1832, Webster had been 
United States Senator from iNiassachusetts about five years, and 
had previously served several terms in the House of Eepre- 
sentatives. He had already enjoyed five great triumphs. As 
a lawyer he had won a favorable decision from the Supreme 
Court of the United States in the Dartmouth College Case; 
he had gained fame also by four remarkable orations: one 
commemorating the landing of the Pilgrims, one at the laying 
of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, one on 
Adams and Jefferson, and one in reply to Hayne. These had 
made Webster recognized as the leader of the Union sentiment, 
the national idea, in the country, just as Senators Calhoun and 
Hayne were already the recognized leaders of the confederation 
sentiment in the country, of the idea that the Constitution is 
merely a compact. Although he served twice as Secretary of 
State and was twice a candidate for the presidency, it was in 
the Senate, as the expounder of the Constitution on the national 
theory, that he performed his greatest service. His last great 
speech, March 7, 1850, was on the slavery question. He died 
in 1852 at the age of seventy. See Lodge: Daniel Webster 
(American Statesmen Series), especially chapter IV; Curtis: 



NOTES 299 

Life of Webster y especially chapter XI; Whipple: Essays and 
Eeviews, Vol. I; Whipple: Webster's Great Speeches. 

KIND OF ADDRESS. 

An address which takes for its title the name of a great 
man may (1) be merely narrative and biographical. This it is 
likely to be, and needs to be, if the man whom it celebrates 
has but recently passed away, or if, though long celebrated, his 
life in many of its details has been forgotten. (2) It may be 
judicial, aiming at a careful estimate of the worth of the life 
and of its influence. (3) It may be appreciative and 
eulogistic, dealing not with the facts of the life but with 
the exemplary principles which guided the great man in his 
work. (4) It may take the life and the principles which gov- 
erned it merely as a point of departure for discussion of pres- 
ent day problems and duties and of the spirit in which they 
should be met. In these days a Washington's Birthday ad- 
dress is likely to be of the type last named. Webster's 
address is not judicial and is only incidentally biographical. 
It is in the main an appreciation of Washington's character, 
and the appreciation is deepest when Webster speaks of Wash- 
ington's devotion to the paramount idea of Union, to the 
country as one nation (pp. 82-84) ; for this was the idea to 
which Webster himself was supremely devoted during hii whole 
life. 

THE THEME. 

The subject of this address is Washington; the theme, 
everywhere present, is the spirit of American Nationality as 
exemplified in Washington. The sentiment of nationalism, of 
an inseparable unity of states, of a supreme union as an 
essential of true liberty, was still not dominant in this country. 
Webster had given it a commanding utterance two years before 
in the Eeply to Hayne. Now he recurs to it. At the opening 
of the speech (p. 69, 11. 9-11; p. 70, 11. 8, 21; p. 71, 11. 1-11) 
it is calmly assumed. In the body of the discourse, which 
begins on page 71, line 22, it is appealed to incidentally as 
the key to the proper appreciation of Washington's character 
(p. 73, 11. 3, 4, 14, 15; p. 74, 1. 19; p. 75, 11. 12-17; p. 76, 
1. 9; p. 77, 11. 5-15; p. 78, 11. 12, 16-25 [referring to the 
Proclamation of Neutrality! , 32; p. 79, 11. 10, 11; p. 80, 11. 1, 
10, 14, 32; p. 81, 1. 23), but finally (pp. 82-86) the senti- 
ment of nationalism becomes the main object of the discus- 
sion. Thus the various topics of the address (beginning 
respectively on pages 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 and 
82) are bound together by this pervading sentiment. 



300 NOTES 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES. 

Make an outline of the address. This address abounds in 
specimens of the climax; almost every one of the longer para- 
graphs affords a specimen. Note how each climax is 
approached. Webster does not often in his speeches use ex- 
tended figures, but in this address such figures are numerous. 
See p. 70, II. 9-12, 11. 26-32. Also see p. 71, 11. 17-21 (perhaps 
the finest of all), p. 77, 1. 26; p. 82, 1. 13; p. 84, 11. 22-30; p. 
85, 11. 8-19. On p. 77, 11. 20-22, Webster adapts Goldsmith's 
lines referring to Burke: 

* ' Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind. 
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind." 

— Goldsmith: Retaliation, 31. 

Note the large use of rhetorical questions in this address. 
Whence arises the persuasive element in the address (pp. 293, 
295)? 

DANIEL WEBSTEE : THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 

THE OCCASION. 

A monument to General Warren, whom Webster calls **the 
first great martyr" of the revolution, had been erected by 
King Solomon's Lodge of Masons, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 
and had been dedicated, in 1794. General Warren in his life- 
time had been Grand Master of the Massachusetts Masons. 
But there came in the course of years a desire on the part of 
Congress, the Massachusetts legislature, and the people gen- 
erally, for a grander memorial not only to Warren but also to 
the other patriots who had fought at Bunker Hill. An asso- 
ciation, the Bunker Hill Monument Association, was formed, 
with Webster as President of the Board of Trustees. Funds 
were raised and on June 17, 1825, the ceremonies of laying 
the corner stone took place. The procession included the mili- 
tary, followed by two hundred veterans of the Revolution, in 
carriages, forty of the veterans being survivors of the battle 
of Bunker Hill. Then came the members of the Monument 
Association and of the Masonic fraternity, followed by 
Lafayette, who had arranged his progress through the country 
so as to be present on the occasion. Many civic societies fol- 
lowed and the procession was attended with great enthusiasm 
and a universal outburst of patriotism during its long prog- 
ress from the State House to Breed's Hill. Thousands had 
come to hear the great Webster, whom the trustees of tho 
Association had appointed orator. For this extraordinary 
ofxjasion, Webster hatl made preparations that were unusual 



I 



NOTES 301 

for him. He had written out the speech in full, whereas it was 
his custom to write out and commit to memory only the most 
important and striking passages of his speeches. It is known 
that this speech caused Webster great anxiety; especially, the 
portion to be addressed directly to the noble Lafayette raised 
fine questions of taste, fitness, and proportion, that were not 
so urgent in the case of the direct address to the Eevolutionary 
soldiers. ''He said," says Ticknor, "that he felt as if he 
knew how to talk to such men, for that his father, and 
many of his father's friends whom he had known, had been 
among them." 

QUALITIES OP THE ADDRESS. 

Five years before the date of this address Webster had 
given at Plymouth the oration celebrating the ''First Settle- 
ment of New England," which Tickuor described as "a 
series of eloquent fragments." In that oration Webster had 
touched upon the power of local association, the historical 
event, the character of the Pilgrims, the growth and future of 
the country, on liberty, on the national view of the constitu- 
tion, on education and on slavery. The point of Ticknor 's 
description is that these topics were not so closely knit to- 
gether as to make an organized unity. No such criticism 
could be passed on the Monument speech. Although the range 
of topics is even greater than in the Plymouth Oration, and 
consequently the problem of relating them closely to one 
another is more difficult, unity of organization is effected with 
apparent ease. (See outline and study of the principles 
of arrangement, Introduction, pp. 21-22.) Many of the 
ideas are the same in the two orations; for instance the idea 
of the power of local association (p. 87, 1. 9. See also p. 69, 
I. 23), of the growth of mankind in education (p. 102) and 
in government (pp. 106-107). Besides unity and wide range 
of topics, the Monument Address shows ease of transition; its 
continuity is unbroken. In making transitions Webster uses 
the "echo" frequently, — some word or sentiment towards the 
end of one paragraph being repeated at the beginning of the 
next (e. g. "deep impression," p. 87, 1. 7, is echoed in "af- 
fect" and "emotions," 11. 10, 11). This is a special form of 
the arrangement by contiguity (see p. 21). Note also the easy 
approach to the addresses to the survivors (p. 93, 1. 19), to 
the veterans (p. 95, 1. 20) and to Lafayette (p. 100, 1. 26). 
Another quality conspicuous in all of Webster's orations is 
massiveness; there is a sufficient bulk of material gathered 
about each point to give it due importance and dignity; a 
sense of satisfaction is experienced as the discussion of each 
topic is concluded. The language is plain and direct; almost 



302 NOTES 

devoid of subtlety and fancy (the one fanciful allusion in this 
speech is to the ships about the Charlestown navy yard, p. 94, 
1. 11). Yet there is imagination (e. g. p. 88, 11. 8-23). There 
is picturesqueuess (e. g. p. 92). There is force. These are 
higher qualities, independent of vocabulary and of sentence- 
length; they are qualities that arise from the vision or insight 
of the speaker into the deeper significance of the occasion 
(cf. pp. 88, 91, 94, 101, 102, 104, 106). The sentences are short 
and clear; they are void of monotony on account of the full- 
ness and variety of thought ■which they carry. It is Webster's 
simplicity of expression, combined with the amplitude of his 
thought and the dignity of his emotion, that explains the 
power of his speech. It was this that led those who listened 
to him to speak of his discourse as having "magnanimity," 
or * ' high seriousness, " or * * largeness, " or * ' sweep, " or * * ele- 
vation, " or ' ' tone. ' ' These words point to characteristics 
of the speaker's personality while, at the same time, they de- 
scribe his speech; thus they indicate his sincerity and perfect 
competence for the occasion. (Other points are touched upon 
in the Introduction, pp. 13-23.) Webster's speeches are full 
of political wisdom and the Monument Address is no excep- 
tion. (See especially pp. 102, 105.) Our attention is held by 
his thoughts, rather than by the way in which they are 
clothed. He makes no effort for small adornment ; quotations 
and literary allusions are few. That on p. 94, 1. 34 is from 
Milton's Paradise Lost, V, 310-311; that on p. 98, 1. 29 is 
from Virgil's j^neid, VI, 726 ("infused through all parts, 
intelligence moves the whole mass and permeates the great 
body"); that on p. 102, 1. 4 is from Horace's Carmina, I 2, 
45 ("May you return late to heaven; may you live long! ") ; 
that on p. 107, 1. 18 is from Homer's Iliad, XVII; books that 
Webster read in the academy and in college and that continued 
to be his favorites through life. From the nature of the case, 
historical references are numerous. The matters with which 
they deal, colonial history, the French Revolution, the Greek 
Eevolution, South American States, are treated at length in the 
larger histories, Fiske, Bancroft, Von Hoist, Lalor's Cyclopedia 
of United States History, or may be traced by use of the index 
volume of the American Statesmen Series. On page 108, 11. 19- 
26 the reference is to the events that followed the Greek 
War against Turkey, for independence (1821-1829). In 1830, 
the great powers declared Greece an independent kingdom, 
Turkey agreeing; but they were unable to provide a king for 
Greece until 1832. Meanwhile Greece was ruled by a dictator 
rnd conditions were so bad as to justify the alternatives 
mentioned, 11. 5-9. As would be expected, melody and cadence 
on the small scale of single sentences, are not prominent char- 



NOTES 303 

acteristics of Webster, but in the larger divisions of his dis- 
course, rhythm and harmony are prominent. They arise from 
the large sweep of his thought and emotion, and are best 
noticed as he approaches and reaches his climaxes (pp. 91, 96, 
110 and 112). 



THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE AT FREEPORT 

THE SPEAKERS AND THE ISSUES. 

Stephen Arnold Douglas was born in Vermont in 1813. 
Before he was 21 he had made himself leader of the Jackson 
Democrats of his adopted home in Illinois. In 1836 his native 
gift for politics, his unusual aggressiveness and power as a 
debater, won him an election to the Illinois legislature, of 
which Abraham Lincoln was a Whig member. When he was 
28 years old the legislature chose him a justice of the Supreme 
Court of Illinois and two years later he entered Congress. In 
1846 he entered the United States Senate and by 1850 was the 
national leader of his party both in council and in debate. 
He shared with Clay the honor of effecting the Compromise of 
1850 and was the favorite of the younger democracy for the 
presidential nomination in 1852, but failed to win it for lack 
of southern support. He was the author of the Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill (1854), which embodied the doctrine of pop- 
ular sovereignty, or squatter sovereignty, permitting the people 
of each territory to determine for themselves whether or not 
they would have slavery. This bill ignored the moral aspects 
of the slavery question, and enabled Congress to evade respon- 
sibility for slavery in the territories. It was almost universally 
condemned in the North, but its passage was regarded as a 
personal triumph for Douglas. ''Anti-Nebraska men," includ- 
ing Free-Soilers, Northern Whigs and many Northern Demo- 
crats, united, in 1854, under the name ''Republican," in 
several states. The point of agreement among them was 
opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1855 Kansas was 
applying for statehood, the pro-slavery citizens under a consti- 
tution sanctioning slavery, the free-soilers under an anti-slavery 
constitution. A state of civil war existed in Kansas. Douglas, 
with indifference to the moral issues involved, proposed that 
Kansas should be admitted wheu her population should be 
sufficient to entitle her to one representative in Congress. The 
democratic nomination for the presidency went to Buchanan, 
as Douglas was out of favor in the North, and the South 
wanted a weaker man. Two days after Buchanan's inaugura- 
tion came the Dred Scot decision, affirming that Negroes 



304 NOTES 

were not included in the Declaration of Independence, that no 
Negro could become a citizen of the United States, and that 
slavery could not legally be excluded from any territory. The 
North feared that another decision would follow opening not 
only the territories but also all of the states to slavery. It 
was widely believed in the North that Buchanan and the 
Supreme Court were in collusion to nationalize slavery. In 
the course of the Kansas-Nebraska debate Douglas, replying to 
a question whether the people of a territory could legally 
exclude slavery, had answered, ' ' That is a question for the 
courts." Now the decision had come, practically outlawing 
the Kepublican position to be sure, but also reducing Douglas's 
popular sovereignty doctrine from a great panacea to a mere 
logical quibble. The cause of slavery seemed to be triumphant. 
Douglas, unabashed, promptly declared that the Dred Scot 
decision was righteous; and that all should obey and respect 
it. In 1857 the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was sub- 
mitted to the people of Kansas in such a way that they must 
vote either * ' for the constitution with slavery " or " for the 
constitution without slavery"; provided that, if the latter 
were adopted, slavery should not be interfered with wherever 
it already existed in Kansas. The free-state men refused to 
vote, and the result was 6,143 votes "for the constitution with 
slavery," and 589 votes *'for the constitution without slav- 
ery." The free-state men, soon after, called a special election 
to vote for or against the Lecompton Constitution, and the 
result was 10,266 votes against it, 138 for it with slavery, and 
24 for it without slavery. The Lecompton men now applied 
to Congress for the admission of Kansas to the Union under 
the Lecompton Constitution. President Buchanan favored this 
project. If Douglas should favor it too, he could carry it 
through Congress; but he would probably lose his re-election 
to the Senate and not a shadow of the popular sovereignty 
idea would be left ; if he defeated it, he would have to break 
with his Southern following, with the administration, and with 
the other leaders of his party; but he might gain his re-elec- 
tion to the Senate, and he might remain an upholder of the 
principle involved in the doctrine of popular sovereignty, since 
there was no question but that the Lecompton Constitution ex- 
pressed the wish of only a minority of the people of Kansas. 
Douglas took the latter alternative; procured the defeat of 
the measure, and broke with the South and the administration. 
It was hoped by northern leaders that Douglas might even in 
time come over to the Republican position, and, outside of 
Illinois, they wished him well in his campaign for re-election 
to the Senate in 1858. In Illinois, he found himself embar- 



NOTES 305 

rassed by the administration's opposition, but in high favor 
with the rank and file of his party. 

Abraham Lincoln had been nominated by the Eepublican 
state convention as his opponent. Lincoln had served in the 
Illinois legislature, 1834-1837, and had been one term in Con- 
gress (1846-1848), during which he had voted repeatedly 
C about forty- two times,'' he humorously said) in favor of 
the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed to prohibit slavery in all 
territory acquired of Mexico. He had campaigned against 
Douglas, after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 
1854; and though at the time elected to the legislature, had 
immediately resigned, in order to become the Anti-Nebraska 
candidate for the United States Senate against Senator Shields. 
While the balloting was in progress Lincoln steadily lost votes 
on account of ardent Abolitionist support and finally withdrew, 
urging his friends to support Judge Trumbull, an Anti- 
Nebraska Democrat, who was elected. The Anti-Nebraska 
principle was of more importance to Lincoln than a personal 
victory ; but Douglas interpreted Lincoln 's action as proof of 
a bargain with Trumbull by which Lincoln was to succeed 
Douglas in 1858. Lincoln was now (1858) the acknowledged 
leader of the Eepublican party in Illinois and its candidate 
for the Senate against Douglas. He was already mentioned 
as "available presidential timber." He was known to his 
state as an ambitious man who nevertheless prized truth, hon- 
esty, fairness, and justice, above all personal ambition. As a 
lawyer he was known to be wonderfully successful when he 
felt his client to be in the right, but unable ever to make the 
worse appear the better cause. The common people felt that 
he was one of themselves in kind, though much greater than any 
of them in ability and insight. As a speaker, he was plain 
and awkward; in appearance, grotesque; in argument, quaint, 
humorous, logical and analytical; in illustration, homely anl 
effective; in method, honest and sincere, but sagacious and 
practical. Douglas came to the contest from his long experi- 
ence in Washington, with the prestige of many victories about 
him. He was polished in manner, wonderfully energetic, ex- 
tremely agile in debate, skilful in all of the arts of political 
controversy, able to wrest victory from defeat, and to escape 
from any dilemma in which fate might place him. His great 
powers and his bravery in an unequal conflict were universally 
admired; but he was never extolled for moral sensitiveness. 
The popular sovereignty doctrine which he had made his own 
treated the question of slavery-extension as a mere question 
of expediency. It offended the consciences of many who felt 
that there was a question of right and wrong involved, which 



306 NOTES 

could not be ignored. But it expressed the practical sense of 
the time as to the possibility of peaceful action. The places 
agreed upon for the debates were Ottawa and Freeport, in 
the northern and republican parts of the state; Charleston, 
Galesburg, and Quincy, in the central part, where the political 
parties were more evenly divided; and Jonesboro and Alton, in 
the southern part, which was strongly Democratic. 

IMMEDIATE CIRCUMSTANCES. 

The Abolitionists were a source of political embarrassment 
to Lincoln. In 1837 he had declared that slavery was unjust 
and was bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition doc- 
trines tended only to increase its evils. He could not adopt 
the Abolition platform, yet to beat Douglas he must gain the 
Abolitionist support, without estranging the Eepublicans and the 
old line Whigs. Douglas hoped to win the Whigs by identifying 
Lincoln with Abolitionism. Lincoln was embarrassed also by 
the Dred Scot decision which put him in the attitude of crit- 
icizing the United States Supreme Court. Douglas, on his 
part, was contending against the insidious opposition of the 
administration wing of his own party, was rendered speechless 
on the moral aspect of slavery by his Kansas-Nebraska doc- 
trine, and was also hampered by a long record in Congress 
which offered to his opponent many chances for attack. The 
debates attracted national attention and as Blaine (Twenty 
Years in Confiress) says, were so far-reaching in their re- 
sults as to ** effect the organization of parties" and "so pow- 
erful as to change the fate of millions." 

THE ARGUMENT. 

The tactical advantage which Lincoln gains by first answer- 
ing Douglas's questions with mere technical denials (pp. 113- 
115) is to discredit Douglas's accuracy in stating things. He 
then shows his own openness, fairness, and willingness to 
answer by answering more than he was asked. The objections 
to the Fugitive Slave Law (p. 116, 1. 17) may be inferred from 
a reading of the law. (See Lalor's Cyclopedia; Khodes, 
History of U. S., I, 185.) The chief objection was that the 
law required every citizen, on demand, to assist in recapturing 
fugitive slaves. In the Alton debate, Lincoln said: "We 
profess to have no taste for running and catching niggers, — 
at least I profess no taste for that job at all. Why then do 
I yield support to a Fugitive Slave Law? Because I do not 
understand that the Constitution, which guarantees that right. 



NOTES 307 

can be supported without it." Lincoln's answer to the second 
question (p. 116, 1. 23) should be compared with Douglas's 
criticism of it (p. 151, 1. 25 — p. 156, 1. 9). Does Lincoln's 
rejoinder (p. 162, 1. 6 — p. 163, 1. 21) answer Douglas com- 
pletely? In view of the Dred Scot decision, is the first if- 
clause (p. 116, 1. 30) relevant? A more direct answer would 
have pleased the bulk of the Freeport audience, which tended 
to abolition views, but the audiences in central and southern 
Illinois were still to be faced. The cautious and carefully 
conditioned answers to the fourth and fifth questions were in 
consonance with the conservative view; but the answer to the 
sixth (p. 118) went as far as even the Freeport audience, 
with its abolition sympathy, could desire. In his answer to 
the seventh question, Lincoln has in mind the intention of 
the Administration and a strong party in the South to acquire 
Cuba (pp. 135-137, especially p. 136, 1. 34). The next point 
(p. 119, 1. 22 — p. 122, 1. 6) involves a charge of forgery. 
Lincoln's statement (p. 114, 11. 7-13) means that he is not 
bound by resolutions passed before May, 1856. The meeting 
in October, 1854, was not a Republican convention, but an 
Abolitionist gathering called by Owen Lovejoy. Lovejoy 
planned to have Lincoln present, and to get him to speak, 
but Herndon, Lincoln 's law partner, sent Lincoln away * ' on 
business" before Lovejoy could find him, thus saving Lincoln 
from apparent political connection with the Abolitionists. 
With this addition, Lincoln's account is completed. No better 
example of Douglas's agility in a difficult situation and of his 
astounding deftness in * * turning the tables " on an opponent 
by introducing a new element to create a dilemma, and really 
"shifting the ground" without seeming to do so, can be found 
than in his long reply on this point (pp. 138-153). Lincoln's 
rejoinder should be carefully scrutinized (p. 159, 1. 25 — p. 162, 
1. 5). Lincoln next presses the charge of a conspiracy to 
nationalize slavery (pp. 123-128), his object being to force a 
breach between the Northern and the Southern Democrats. 
Douglas (p. 132, 1. 12 — p. 133, 1. 34) answered in such a way 
as to make clear to those holding the extreme Southern view 
that he could not be trusted to support their bold claim that 
slavery had become everywhere constitutional since the Dred 
Scot decision. The use of the word ' ' State ' ' in Douglas 's 
amendment (p. 123, 1. 11) was extremely unfortunate, for now 
it favored the conspiracy theory. Lincoln's closing words (p. 
127, 1. 10 — p. 128, 1. 19) should be read in connection with 
Douglas's reply (p. 156, 1. 10 — p. 159, 1. 3) and Lincoln's 
rejoinder (p. 163, 1. 22— p. 168, 1. 25). The answers to 
Lincoln's four questions (especially p. 131, 1. 14 — p. 132, 1. 11, 
known as "the Freeport heresy") probably won Douglas his 



308 NOTES 

reelection to the Senate, but undoubtedly made him forever 
impossible as a presidential candidate in the South. (See 
Churchill's novel, The Crisis, for a dramatic account of 
the Freeport debate.) In the Alton debate, Lincoln exposed 
' ' the Freeport heresy ' ' as follows : ' * And if I believed that 
the right to hold a slave in a Territory was equally fixed in 
the Constitution with the right to reclaim fugitives, I should 
be bound to give it the legislation necessary to support it. I 
say that no man can deny his obligation to give the necessary 
legislation to support slavery in a Territory, who believes it 
is a constitutional right to have it there. No man can, who 
does not give the Abolitionists an argument to deny the obliga- 
tion enjoined by the Constitution to enact a Fugitive Slave 
Law." (See also the Introduction, pp. 12, 28, 29, 32.) 



THE RESULT. 

In the legislature that was elected on the issue of Lincoln 
or Douglas for the United States Senate, the latter had a ma- 
jority of eight votes, though the popular vote stood 126,084 
for Lincoln, 121,940 for Douglas, and 5,091 for the Adminis- 
tration candidate. Douglas went back to the Senate; the 
South was permanently estranged from him, and would not 
have him as its candidate in 1860, but, after his nomination 
by the Baltimore Convention, from which the Southern ex- 
tremists had seceded, opposed him with Breckinridge and 
Lane. Lincoln's questions had done their work. The debates 
made Lincoln a national figure and he was called to Ohio and 
to New York and other eastern states for speeches. In these 
he solidified the Republican party, made plain the irrecon- 
cilable issues of the time, and deepened the public conscience. 
Nominated, over Seward, by the Republican Convention at 
Chicago, he won the Presidency, the vote in the electoral col- 
lege standing, Lincoln 180, Breckinridge 72, Douglas 12. 
After Sumter was fired on, Douglas at once called upon Pres- 
ident Lincoln and pledged himself "to sustain the President in 
the exercise of all his constitutional functions to preserve the 
Union, and maintain the government, and defend the Federal 
capital." By this patriotic act Douglas left no doubt among 
his northern followers as to his own devotion to the Union, and 
as to their patriotic duty in the crisis. He prevented the 
calamity of a divided North. (See Morse: Abraham Lincoln, 
1, 251.) Douglas died in 1861. (A brief biography of 
Douglas, by W. G. Brown, is printed in the Riverside Series. 
See also Rhodes 's History of the U. S., I and II.) 



NOTES 309 

ALEXANDEE HAMILTON STEPHENS ON SECESSION 

.THE SPEAKER. 

Though a life-long invalid Stephens showed superb intel- 
lectual vitality and power from youth to old age. He was 
born in Georgia in 1812 and died in 1883. After admission 
to the bar he was elected to the Georgia legislature in 1836, 
against great opposition because he opposed nullification, 
though he believed in states rights. In 1843 he was 
elected to Congress, where he advocated the annexation of 
Texas. He welcomed the results of the Mexican War as the 
salvation of the South. In 1850 he supported Clay and Douglas 
in the great compromise, favoring the admission of California 
as a free state because he saw that the bargain included in 
effect the repeal of essential parts of the Missouri Compromise 
and opened other territories to slavery. He was the auino; 
of the ** Georgia platform" of 1850, which declared, *'We 
hold the American Union secondary in importance only to the 
rights and principles it was designed to perpetuate." That 
sentence is the best statement ever made of the attitude of 
moderate southern men towards the Union. He voted for 
Webster for president in 1852. In 1854 he defended the 
Kansas-Nebraska Act. He retired from Congress in 1859 and 
in 1860 he supported Douglas for the Presidency. In Decem- 
ber, 1860, Lincoln, in a private letter to Stephens (they had 
served in Congress together) said: ^'Do the people of the 
South really entertain fears that a Eepublican administration 
would, directly or indirectly, interfere with the slaves, or with 
them about their slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, 
as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there 
is no cause for such fears." Stephens, with all the power at 
his command, tried to stem the rising tide of secession in 
Georgia, arguing that secession was unnecessary, inexpedient, 
and a criminal blunder that would bring untold disaster upon 
the South. His efforts were unavailing against the radicals, 
who carried the State convention with them. In his opinion 
the chief influence in bringing about the result was Cobb 's 
assertion that ''we can make better terms out of the Union 
than in it." Excessive state patriotism was also appealed to 
with success. Many said, "I abhor disunion, but I go with 
my State," and that expressed Stephens's own position after 
the ordinance of secession was adopted. In 1861 he was 
chosen Vice President of the Confederacy and in 1865 was a 
peace commissioner at the Hampton Roads Conference. Feb. 
22, 1866, in a speech on reconstruction he made a strong plea 
for the freedmen. In 1867 he published Volume I of The 



310 NOTES 

War between the States, and in 1870, Volume II, — a work 
remarkable for great power of logic. From 1874 to 1882 
Stephens was again in the Federal Congress. He opposed the 
Civil Eights Bill in 1874, and the ''Salary Grab,'' and ad- 
vised strongly against the proposal to use force to seat Tiklfen 
in the presidential office. In 1882 he was elected Governor of 
Georgia, but had not served long before death overtook him. 

THE SPEECH. 

This extract is remarkable for the prophetic element (p. 169, 
11. 5, 11, 17, 22; p. 171, 11. 2-6) that constitutes the first point; 
there is evidently not a shadow of doubt in Stephens's mind 
as to the result of a conflict. The second point is the argu- 
ment from expediency (pp. 170-172, 1. 14), and the third the 
appeal to national patriotism. Make a brief of the argument. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN: ADDRESS AT INDEPENDENCE 

HALL 

Mr. Lincoln had spoken his brief but touching farewell to 
his Springfield neighbors, February 11, 1861, and had started 
for Washington. After stopping at various points to make 
speeches, he had reached Philadelphia, where he was to assist 
at a flag-raising. The secession of Southern states, the de- 
moralization of the Buchanan Administration at Washington, 
the timid attitude of the North, and of Congress, were post- 
election developments. Through these, the issues on which 
Lincoln had won the election had suddenly become obsolete. 
The issue was now no longer anti-slavery, but the Union and 
how to save it. The Independence Hall speech recognizes this 
great change of issues (p. 174, 11. 5-7, 11. 19-21 — p. 175, 11. 
3-10), and the Union is Lincoln's theme from this time on. 
The place suggested the central idea, ' ' The Declaration of 
Independence furnishes the principle on which the Union must 
be saved." While hundreds of influential but timid Northern- 
ers were, at the moment, ready to yield any and all principles 
in order to pacify the South, here was a strong declaration 
from the President-elect, that there would be no war unless 
it was forced upon the government. The effect of this address 
was to hearten the North and to impress the South with the 
fact that Lincoln was in no sense doubtful as to the duty 
before him. In connection with the last sentence of the address 
it should be remembered that there were credible rumors of a 
plot to assassinate Lincoln as he should pass through Baltimore 
on the next day or two. The plot, if it existed, was frustrated 



NOTES 311 

by making the journey earlier than the time announced, and 
Lincoln entered Washington February 23d, unharmed. 

THE FIEST INAUGURAL 

This, the most momentous utterance in our history, left no 
doubt that the real issue was now union or disunion, and of 
the firm course President Lincoln would take. * ' The union 
of tnese states is perpetual"; '*No state upon its own mere 
motion can lawfully get out of the Union"; *'I shall take 
care that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all 
the states " ; ' ' The central idea of secession is the essence of 
anarchy " ; ' ' The power confided in me will be used to hold, 
occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the 
government, and to collect the duties and imposts"; *'You 
have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, 
while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect 
and defend' it," — these direct, simple, firm, and earnest sen- 
tences, impossible to misunderstand, meant that the seceded 
states must either abandon their project or make war to main- 
tain it. By the most persuasive pleas and reasonings they were 
solicited to abandon their project. They are first assured 
(pp. 176-177) that Republican success does not mean danger 
to slavery in the Southern states; that the President deems 
the enactment of a Fugitive Slave Law a constitutional obliga- 
tion binding on Congress (pp. 177-178). Indeed he makes 
suggestions for improving the existing law (p. 178, 11. 18-26). 
Then follow the open acknowledgment that an attempt is being 
made to disrupt the Union (p. 179) and the argument that 
the Union is perpetual and secession ordinances void (p. 180) ; 
the duty and intentions of the President (pp. 180-181) ; the 
plea to those who love the Union (pp. 181-182) ; the lack of 
real grievances against the government (p. 182) ; the reduction 
of secession to a logical absurdity (p. 183) ; the true attitude 
of the citizen towards the Supreme Court (p. 184) ; the folly 
of secession (pp. 184-185); Lincoln's willingness that the 
Constitution should be amended (pp. 185-186) ; the appeal to 
faith in the triumph of the right (p. 186) ; the appeal to old 
friendship and to patriotism (pp. 187-188). In an earlier draft 
of the inaugural the word nothing was used for the word void 
(p. 180, 1. 16), the word treasonable instead of the word 
revolutionary (p. 180, 1. 18). The clauses in view cf the Con- 
stitution and the laws (p. 180, 1. 19) and as the Constitution 
itself expressly enjoins upon me (p. 180, 1. 21) were omitted; 
tangible way was used for authoritative manner (p. 180, 1. 27) 
and the last line of the paragraph (p. 180, 1. 30) read, that 
it will have its own and defend itself. (The student will find 



312 NOTES 

it inatructive to consider ^vhat difference in implication there 
is between the word rejected and the word adopted in each 
case and to account for the alterations adopted by Lincoln.) 
The original draft of the final paragraphs (p. 187) read as 
follows: **My dissatisfied fellow-countrymen; you cannot 
forbear the assault upon it; I cannot shrink from the defense 
of it. "With you, and not with me, is the solemn question of 
Shall it be peace or a sword?" To this Mr. Seward objected 
on the ground that "something besides or in addition to argu- 
ment is needful — to meet and remove prejudice and passion 
in the South and despondency and fear in the East. Some 
words of affection — some of calm and cheerful confidence." 
Mr. Seward proposed the following: ''I close. We are not, 
we must not be, aliens or enemies, but fellow-countrymen and 
brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affec- 
tion too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be 
broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many 
battle-fields and so many patriot graves, pass through all the 
hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours, 
will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed 
upon by the guardian angel of the nation." Compare these 
versions with the text finally adopted by Mr. Lincoln and 
account for the alterations. Lincoln's fine precision in the use 
of words, his sense for choosing words with the association 
desired, his gift for direct statement, his ability to make every 
sentence say and imply no more and no less than he meant it 
to say and imply, can be illustrated on every page of this 
inaugural. He attributed his power over language to the fact 
that he never was satisfied with an idea until he had put it in 
language * ' plain enough for any boy to comprehend. ' ' The 
tone is firm but kindly, the spirit breathes native greatness and 
honesty of intention. 

THE LETTER TO GEEELEY 

In spite of the clear statement of the First Inaugural that 
the supreme issue was not now anti-slavery but the saving of 
the Union, many of Lincoln 's supporters continued to think of 
the war only in its bearings on slavery. The radicals were 
zealous to destroy slavery at once; the conservatives were 
willing to preserve it. Each faction was eager to criticise 
every act of the administration with sole reference to the 
effect on slavery. Lincoln was on record as saying that he 
believed the Union could not permanently endure half-slave 
and half-free. He was known to hate human slavery. It 
might be inferred that when convinced of the necessity of 
emancipation as a war measure, solely in order to save the 



NOTES 313 

Union, he would proclaim freedom to the slave. He was 
meditating whether the hour had not arrived and had dis- 
cussed the subject with his Cabinet July 22, 1862. But he 
had laid the proclamation aside awaiting Union victories. 
These did not come; and the radicals were more bitter in 
their criticism of his '^inaction" than ever. August 20, 1862, 
the New York Tribune, Greeley's paper, printed an open 
letter to Abraham Lincoln signed by Horace Greeley charging 
the President with not executing the laws energetically, with 
not carrying forward emancipation; with not taking counsel 
with radicals instead of conservatives, with acting timidly, 
with deferring to Southern sentiment, and with much more 
to the same purport. The purpose of Lincoln's reply was to 
restrain the impatience of those enthusiasts who felt as 
Greeley wrote, and to turn Greeley's letter to account in mak- 
ing public sentiment ready for emancipation. Lincoln aimed 
to go no faster in the direction of emancipation than he felt 
sure public opinion would warrant. There was for Lincoln 
every provocation to anger at the injustice of Greeley's letter; 
every incitement to reveal in detail his own plan for emanci- 
pation, and to make a promise on the subject. But Lincoln 
refused to yield to impulses of that kind. With rare mag- 
nanimity he overlooked the personal injustice, with rare dig- 
nity he denied himself the justification that a word might 
have afforded, refused to enter a controversy, refused to dis- 
comfit his accuser, and prepared the public mind for the 
proclamation which was published September 23d. 

THE SPEECH AT GETTYSBUEG 

This brief speech should be memorized and made a perma^ 
nent possession. Of the same quality in tone, spirit, and perfect 
expression, is the following letter to Mrs. Bixby, of Boston: 

Dear Madam: — I have been shown in the files of the War 
Department a statement of the adjutant general of Massachu- 
setts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died 
gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless 
must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile 
you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot 
refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be 
found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray 
that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your 
bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the 
loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to 
have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. 
Very respectfully yours, 

Abraham Lincoln. 



314 NOTES 

THE SECOND INAUGURAL 

By the time of the second inaugural the military success of 
the Federal arms was assured, the Union was probably saved, 
and slavery was being destroyed by the victorious advance of 
the Union armies. For those now defeated, who had brought 
on the war, the great heart of Lincoln contained nothing but 
forgiveness. His fear was that the spirit of revenge which 
had begun to appear in Congress would dictate too harsh 
terms to the conquered and would perpetuate hatred and make 
real reconciliation impossible between the two sections of the 
country. The second inaugural address is the most magnani- 
mous of American state papers. Its final sentence might 
stand as the epitaph of its writer. * * This speech, ' ' says 
Morse, * ' has taken its place among the most famous of all the 
written or spoken compositions in the English language. In 
parts it has often been compared with the lofty portions of 
the Old Testament. Mr. Lincoln's own contemporaneous 
criticism is interesting. **I expect it," he said, ''to wear as 
well as, perhaps better than, anything I have produced; but 
I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered 
by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose 
between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in 
this case, is to deny tha't there is a God governing the world. 
It is the truth which I thought needed to be told; and as 
whatever of humiliation there is in it falls most directly on 
myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it." 
The address puts on the war an interpretation (p. 193, 1. 15 — 
p. 194, 1. 15) at once the highest, the profoundest, and the 
most magnanimous, rising above all controversies as to the 
relative blame of the North and the South for bringing on the 
scourge; it is divine retribution upon the whole nation for 
permitting a great wrong to continue for so many years. In 
this interpretation Lincoln anticipated the best judgment which 
history has pronounced in explanation of this and other sim- 
ilar conflicts of the world, notably the French Revolution. 
The deeply religious tone, the awe and the mystery of it, 
indicate the humble spirit in which Lincoln would have the 
nation proceed to the work of restoration and reconciliation 
that remained to be accomplished. In connection with p. 193, 
1. 19 read Genesis 3:19; with 1. 20, Matthew 7:1; with 11. 
23-25, Matthew 18:7; with p. 194, 1. 7, Psalm 19:9; with 1. 11, 
Isaiah 61:1 and Isaiah 30:26; with 1. 12, Matthew 20:12; with 
1. 13, Fsalm 146:9. 



NOTES 315 

LAST PUBLIC ADDEESS 

For the various theories of reconstruction, — the restoration 
or presidential theory, conquered territory theory, state suicide 
theory, etc., see Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science and 
United States History, article on Reconstruction. Eeconstruc- 
tion brought greater embarrassments than secession had 
brought, and aroused passions quite as fierce. The President 
was attacked for exercising powers that were claimed for 
Congress alone and for offering terms too lenient to the 
Southern States. The spirit of revenge, which Lincoln had 
feared, gained headway in Congress. The speech was delivered 
to a multitude that had gathered in the evening of April 11, 
before the White House, to express enthusiasm over the fall 
of Petersburg and Eichmond and the surrender of Lee. It 
begins by generously attributing to Grant and the army all 
of the honor of the victory and then calmly, without the slight- 
est hint of irritation at unjust criticism, appeals by argument 
and explanation for support of the humane and liberal policy 
in Louisiana, which was already bitterly assailed by politicians 
of his own party. Eeasonableness, benignity, honesty of inten- 
tion, greatness of heart, characterize the utterance. But so do 
practical sagacity, homely wisdom, and simplicity. Lincoln 
touched no difficult subject in his life without simplifying it 
by his statement. He brushes aside the fine spun theories of 
reconstruction with which men had befogged their minds and 
calls attention to the one purpose to which all should work 
(p. 198, 11. 6-21). Two weeks after this speech Lincoln was 
assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who, in the words of 
Morse, "slew the only sincere and powerful friend whom the 
Southerners had among their conquerors." 

THE LONDON SPECTATOE ON LINCOLN 

Of the countless tributes to the greatness of Abraham 
Lincoln, none are more instructive to the American than those 
coming from foreign sources. That quoted in the text is 
especially noteworthy for its analysis of Lincoln's literary 
power, as well as for its true insight into his character. Cite 
from the speeches of Lincoln in this volume passages that 
verify the points made by the London Spectator. Cite an 
example of persuasion arising from the order in which Lincoln 
arranges the topics of his discourse. Cite from Lincoln a case 
of refutation; a case of persuasion arising from logic alone; 
several memorable maxims of government. 



316 NOTES 

WENDELL PHILLIPS: THE SCHOLAR IN A REPUBLIC 

THE SPEAKER. 

Among American agitators and reformers, Wendell Phillips 
stood easily the first in scholarship, culture, and gifts of 
speech. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1831 at 
the age of twenty years, attended the Cambridge Law School 
three years and was admitted to the bar. After practicing 
law for about two years, he happened one day to see a 
mob of Boston's best citizens assault the Abolitionist Garrison 
and go unmolested and unpunished for their crime, whereas 
Garrison himself was imprisoned. From that day Wendell 
Phillips's destiny was determined. He soon announced his 
adoption of Abolitionism and joined the hated band of * ' fanat- 
ics. '* His brilliant speech on Lovejoy's murder, delivered at 
Faneuil Hall, December 8, 1837, made him the recognized 
orator of the anti-slavery movement. In 1839 he withdrew 
from the law because of conscientious scruples against swear- 
ing allegiance to the United States Constitution so long as it 
permitted human slavery; and he ceased to vote for the same 
reason. He was not, as Garrison was, a non-resistant Aboli- 
tionist. He went up and down the land bitterly assailing in 
hundreds of speeches that are masterpieces of eloquence, the 
sin of slavery, the criminal partnership of the Constitution 
with this colossal sin, and the base silence of the church on 
the subject. He opposed organizing Abolitionism into a 
political party, for that course would mean, logically, recogni- 
tion of the Constitution. He hated the timidity of the states- 
men who trembled at the word disunion and who, esteeming 
Union above natural justice, made compromises acknowledging 
slavery. He demanded immediate emancipation and regarded 
disunion as the quickest way to accomplish it. After the War 
was over, and slavery had been abolished, he refused, neverthe- 
less, to allow the Anti-Slavery Society to die until the fifteenth 
amendment to the Federal Constitution was adopted in 1870. 
Wendell Phillips did not believe that the radical movement 
for reform should cease with the achievement of freedom for 
the negro. He saw numerous other classes in the world in 
quite as much need of his best efforts. He stood for every 
claim of humanity. He spoke successively for Ireland, for 
Crete, for the Indian, for prison reform, for the abolition of 
capital punishment, for prohibition of the liquor traffic, for 
women's suffrage. He favored the greenback theory of money. 
He was against monopoly, against the vast combinations of 
capital later known as trusts. He died in 1884. The achieve- 
ment of Wendell Phillips was greater than that of any other 



NOTES 317 

American orator in this: Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Beeeher, 
and the rest had political parties, or organized religion, at 
their backs; Phillips stood alone, was denounced by all 
political parties, and belonged to no party or church. He 
spent his life attacking existing institutions, and, most of his 
life, he spoke to audiences that were hostile to his ideas. In 
spite of his lack of organized support, he never lacked hearers. 
People could not resist going to hear him and some came away 
angry at themselves for having been browbeaten, or charmed 
(as the case might be) into applauding his unsparing denun- 
ciations of their life-long principles and prejudices. His man- 
ner was simple, quiet, undemonstrative. His voice was remark- 
able not for volume, or compass, but for tone. In epigram, 
invective, and wit, he was unrivalled. His best known lectures 
are ' ' The Lost Arts, " " Toussaint L 'Ouverture, ' ' and ' ' Daniel 
O'Connell." 

THE OCCASION AND THE AUDIENCE. 

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, founded at "William and Mary 
College, Virginia, in 1776, has always made scholarship and 
capacity for high service the principal requirement of member- 
ship. An annual public address by some distinguished man 
has usually been a feature of its work in the various chapters. 
Two previous orations delivered before the Harvard chapter 
had proved famous, — Edward Everett's, in 1824, when he 
apostrophized Lafayette, who was on the platform; and Ralph 
Waldo Emerson's, in 1837, on the American Scholar, which 
was on the theme stated by Wendell Phillips on p. 209, 1. 17, — 
p. 210, 1. 2. During the stormy years before the war, Wendell 
Phillips and abolition received little or no approval from 
churches, colleges, and other established institutions. Years 
after the cause for which he fought had won, and he had 
moved forward to other reforms, he was invited to deliver the 
centennial Phi Beta Kappa oration at Harvard "with the 
official, professional, and mercantile culture of thirty states 
for an audience." Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who was 
present, says: ''It was the tardy recognition of him by his 
own college and his own literary society, and proved to be, 
in some respects, the most remarkable effort of his life. He 
never seemed more at his ease, more colloquial, and more 
extemporaneous; and held an unwilling audience spellbound, 
while bating absolutely nothing of his radicalism. Many a 
respectable lawyer and divine felt his blood run cold, the next 
day, when he found that the fascinating orator whom he had 
applauded to the echo, had really made the assassination of an 
emperor seem as trivial as the doom of a mosquito." The 



318 NOTES 

Eeverend James Freeman Clarke, an alumnus of Harvard, who 
was present, gives the following account: **When I knew 
that Wendell Phillips was to give the Phi Beta Kappa oration 
at Cambridge, I was very curious to know what course he 
would take. I said, ' He has two opportunities neither of 
which he has ever had before. He has always spoken to the 
people. Now he is invited to address scholars. He has an 
opportunity to deliver a grand academic discourse, and to 
show, that, when he chooses to do it, he can be the peer of 
Everett or Sumner on their own platform of high culture. He 
can leave behind personalities, forget for the hour his hatreds 
and enmities, and meet all his old opponents peacefully, in 
the still air of delightful studies. This is an opportunity he 
has never had before, and probably will never have again.' 

" 'But there is another and different opportunity now of- 
fered him. Now, for the first and only time, he will have face 
to face before him the representatives of that Cambridge 
culture which has had little sympathy with his past labors. 
He can tell them how backward they were in the old Anti- 
Slavery contest, and how reluctant to take part in any later 
reforms. If he has been bitter before, he can be ten times 
as bitter now. He can make this the day of judgment for the 
sins of half a century. This opportunity, also, is unique. It 
will never come again. Can he resist this temptation, or not?' 

"It never occurred to me that he would accept and use 
both opportunities, but he did so. He gave an oration of great 
power and beauty, full of strong thoughts and happy illustra- 
tions, not unworthy of any university platform or academic 
scholar. It was nearly, though not wholly, free from person- 
alities; but it was also one long rebuke for the recreant 
scholarship of Cambridge. It arraigned and condemned all 
scholarship as essentially timid, selfish, and unheroic. It gave 
a list of the leading reforms of the last forty years, in none 
of which Cambridge scholarship had taken any share, — Anti- 
Slavery, Woman's Eights, the wrongs of Ireland, reform in 
criminal legislation, — and wound up the catalogue by denounc- 
ing as disgusting cant all condemnation of Russian Nihilism 
and its methods. He admitted, that, in a land where speech 
and the press are free, recourse to assassination is criminal, 
but defended 'dynamite and the dagger' as the only methods 
of reform open in Eussia. " 

QUALITIES OP THE ADDRESS. 

The fitness of the subject to the audience is obvious. The 
frequent references, indicated by the numerous proper names, 
are in place with a well-r(>ad audience. The general meaning 



NOTES 319 

of these numerous references is usually made clear by the con- 
text; but some, requiring specific knowledge, are explained 
below. Like Emerson and Macaulay, Phillips knew the effect- 
iveness of dealing largely in proper names. Even when not 
accurately understood by his audience they always lent con- 
creteness and often picturesqueness to his statements. Every 
one of them has a value for the historical imagination. And 
the effect is heightened when they are set in opposition or 
comparison with one another (p. 210, 11. 14-30 — p. 211, 11. 5-10 
• — p. 215, 11. 11-15). Note the steps by which the first duty 
of the scholar (p. 216) is reached; and the catalogue of the 
failures of book-learning (pp. 216-221). What fitness is there 
in the references on pp. 219-221? Note the indictment (pp. 
221-224) ; the application (pp. 224-229) ; and the statement 
of the scholar's present opportunities (pp. 229-241). See 
also Introduction, pp. 11, 13, 30. 

REFERENCES. 

P. 209, 11. 4-8. Whose leaders. Voltaire and the encyclopedists. 
1.19. Everett (Edward, 1794-1865). Noted American 
orator, statesman, president of Harvard College, Sec- 
retary of State. His oration on Washington was 
delivered more than 100 times. 

P. 210, 1. 8. Lowell. In ' ' New England Two Centuries Ago ' ' 
(Literary Essays, Vol. II), Lowell denies that the 
Puritans were fanatics. 

1.11. Sir Harry Vane (1612-62), Governor of Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony 1636-7; favored tolerating the 
religious opinions of Anue Hutchinson and opposed 
her banishment. Though a strong Puritan, and a 
member of the Parliamentary army, Vane opposed 
Cromwell's usurpation of Parliament's functions, at- 
tacked in print the Protectorate of Cromwell, and 
suffered imprisonment for it. After the Restoration 
Vane was executed as a traitor. 

1. 25. Plato. Plato would have welcomed Vane because 
of his devotion to pure and high ideals. 

1.26. Fenelon (1651-1715). French ecclesiastic and 
writer; an idealist. 

1.27. Somers (1652-1736). English jurist, statesman, 
patriot, scholar. 

Carnot (1753-1823). French military leader. 
Active in organizing the French Revolution. 

1. 15. Chauncey. Opposed the threatened establishment 
of Episcopacy in the Colonies. The fear that a state 



320 NOTES 

church Tvould be imposed by England was a minor 
cause of the American Eevolution. 
P. 212, 1. 24. Not with their eyes hut with their prejudices. 
Compare the last paragraph of Phillips's Toussaint 
I'Ouverture, *'You think me a fanatic tonight, for 
you read history not with your eyes, but with your 
prejudices. ' ' 

P. 213, 1. 9. Nightmares. Makes a horror of New England 
annals when accepted as true and used as the basis 
of New England history. 

P. 214, 1. 5. Long Parliament. Forcibly dissolved by Crom- 
well in 1650. Vane, its leader, opposed to Cromwell, 
had proposed a measure reforming the election of 
members in such a way as to defeat Cromwell's pur- 
pose that the army should always be represented by 
a majority of the members. 

P. 219, 1. 31. Scire uhi, etc. A large part of learning is to 
know where to find out what you want to know. 

P. 220, 1. 30. Fremont campaign of 1856. This first campaign 
of the new Eepublican party for the Presidency was 
mainly educational. Brown's execution startled the 
country into real thinking. 

P. 221, 1. 25. From Lowell 's * ' The Present Crisis. ' ' 

P. 223, 1. 9. Eunlcer, About 1844 the name *' Hunkers" came 
into use to describe an element of the Democratic 
party (mainly in New York State) that was espe- 
cially conservative and unprogressive. The * ' Hunk- 
ers" opposed the ** Barnburners, " another element. 

P. 224, 1.5. Letter to the London Times. In 1861, Motley, 
the American historian, then living in London, pub- 
lished in the Times two long letters explaining the 
American system of government and making clear 
the causes of the Civil War. 

P. 225, 1. 10. Evarts and his committee. In 1870-1 William 
Evarts was chairman of a committee of the New York 
Bar Association which took part in the prosecution 
of the corrupt officials known as the * * Tweed ring. ' ' 
1. 17. Credit-Mobilier. A corporation chartered in 
1863, reorganized in 1867 with increased capital, en- 
gaged in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, 
which received enormous financial aid from the gov- 
ernment. Some Senators and Representatives held 
stock in Credit-Mobilier and thus profited by the 
favors which as Congressmen they voted to the 



NOTES 3^1 

Union Pacific Eailway. This fact became known in 
1872 and created scandal and political embarrassment 
for the corrupt Congressmen. 
1. 28. That unrivalled scholar. Edward Everett. The 
charge made in the next few lines may be under- 
stood by consulting the Life of Garrison by his sons, 
I, 64. 

P. 228,1.5. Sir Bodert Peel (1788-1850). English Prime 
Minister. Though leader of the Conservative party, 
he yielded to the agitation for reform and promoted 

II. 22-24. Wilberforce (1759-1833) and ClarTcson (1760- 
1846) after long agitation secured the gradual aboli- 
tion of slavery in the British colonies. Hill (1795- 
1879) secured penny postage and other postal reforms 
in England. Eomilly (1757-1818) promoted the cause 
of prison reform and the repeal of inhuman penal 
laws in England. Cohden (1804-65) and Bright 
(1811-89) were leaders in the agitation for the repeal 
of the corn laws and the adoption of free trade in 
England. Garrison (1805-79), American abolitionist, 
philanthropist, president of the Anti-Slavery Society. 
O'Connell (1775-1847), Irish orator, agitator, leader 
of movements for Eoman Catholic emancipation and 
for the separation of Ireland from England, — *'the 
liberator. ' ' 

P. 229, 11. 1-4. From Browning 's ' ' The Lost Leader. ' ' 

1.31. Pierpont (1785-1866), Unitarian clergyman, tem- 
perance and anti-slavery advocate, published The 
American First Class Boole, Exercises in Beading and 
"Recitation. He is charged with omitting passages 
from selections that would offend radicals of either 
extreme. 

P. 230, 1. 8. That earthquaJce scholar. Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
1.19. Eantoul (1805-52), Senator from Massachusetts. 
Anti-slavery advocate. Like the Italian economist, 
Beccaria (1738-94), he disbelieved in the death penalty 
for crime. Livingston (1764-1836), American jurist. 
United States Senator, Secretary of State (1831-3), 
compiler of the Code of Criminal Law and Procedure. 
Like the Scotch statesman, MacTcintosh (1765-1832), 
he labored to improve and ameliorate the criminal 
laws. 

P. 233, 1. 15. A second thought. Untrue, as is proved by the 
work of Milton, Bunyan, Byron, Shelley, George Eliot, 



322 NOTES 

Dickens, Whittier, Longfellow, Emerson, Whitman, 
and hundreds of others. 

1.28. Sydney Smith (1771-1845), English clergyman, 
brilliant wit, keen critic, editor of the Edinburgh 
Beview, advocate of Catholic emancipation and the 
reform bill of 1832. 

P. 234, 1.4. Benthavi (1748-1832), English philosopher, ex- 
pounder of the utilitarian philosophy. 

1.29. Gladstone's Mil for Ireland. The Irish land act 
of 1881, one great and beneficent step in the progress 
towards home rule for Ireland. Phillips deplores the 
praise of it because it did not go the full length in 
satisfying all of Ireland's aspirations. Gladstone's 
record as a Liberal and a Home Ruler nullifies this 
criticism. 

P. 235, 1. 29. Chatham. (1708-78) Leader of the radi- 
cal Whigs in Parliament; denied the right of Parlia- 
ment to tax the American colonies (1774-7). *'If I 
were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a 
foreign foe was landed on my shores, I would never 
lay down my arms." 

P. 236, 1.12. Lieher (1800-72), German patriot, imprisoned by 
Prussia in 1819 and 1824 for his revolutionary senti- 
ments. Author of songs of liberty. Removed to the 
United States in 1827. He was professor of political 
economy in Columbia University (1857-72). 
11. 20-31. From Lowell 's * ' The Present Crisis. ' * 

P. 237,1. 20. Macchiavelli (1469-1527), Italian diplomat and 
writer. In his book The Prince he considers what 
a successful ruler should be and betrays a most cynical 
and despicable view of human nature. 
1.31. Algernon Sydney (1622-83), English patriot and 
republican. 

P. 238, 1.16. Venetian mystery of police, Venice has always 
been synonymous with mystery; the Russian police 
system likewise. During the Fourteenth century the 
government of Venice was in the hand of a " Council 
of Ten" whose secrecy added terror to their decrees. 
1.25. Arnold (1822-88), English critic, poet, lecturer. 
P. 239,1. 4. Bedford (1759-1844), English romancer. His 
**Vathek: An Arabian Tale" contains the famous 
description of the hall of Eblis. Eblis or Iblis is the 
Devil of the Koran and of ancient Jewish rabbinical 
lore. 
P. 241, 11. 14-23. From Lowell 's * * The Present Crisis. ' ' 



NOTES 323 

HENEY GEADY: THE NEW SOUTH, 

THE SPEAKER AND THE OCCASION. 

Henry Grady was born at Athens, Georgia, in 1851, and 
received his education in the University of Georgia. He entered 
journalism, and from 1880 to his death, nine years later, was 
editor of the Atlanta Constitution. He was a frequent con- 
tributor to the magazines, writing on the condition and prog- 
ress of his native state and the South generally. His address 
on ''The New South" (1886) before the New England Society 
in New York was hailed with delight throughout the nation 
as representative of the spirit of fraternalism and progress, 
coupled with a fine reverence for the heroic past, that is 
characteristic of the generation since the civil war. Almost 
equally notable was his . address in Boston a few days before 
his death, on ''The Future of the Negro." 

CHARACTER OP THE ADDRESS. 

The introduction (pp. 242-243) is discussed on pp. 10, 13. 
Compared with the rest of the speech, it is less orderly and perti- 
nent. What is the function of the second paragraph? (See 
p. 10.) The first section of the discussion (pp. 244-245) 
resolves the antithesis between Puritan and Cavalier in Lin- 
coln. The second section (pp. 245-249), on the work of prog- 
ress since the war, begins with an antithesis between the old 
South and the new, and contains (pp. 246-247) the most 
touching and picturesque description of the speech. The third 
section (pp. 249-250), on the negro, leads to a second contrast 
between the old South and the new (pp. 251-252), and this to 
the beautiful passage on p. 252, brave in spirit, touched with 
personal emotion, and ending in the climax of the speech. The 
note of conciliation (p. 253-254) with which the speech closes 
is doubly effective in its disguise as a challenge to New Eng- 
land. The quotation with which the speech closes is from the 
opening lines of Shakespeare's King Henry the Fourth, Part I. 
See also p. 11. 



WILLIAM BOUEKE COCKEAN: JOHN MAESHALL 

THE SPEAKER. 

Born in Ireland, in 1854, Mr. Cockran came to this country 
in 1871 ; taught school, studied law, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1876. From 1882 to 1886 he was legal counsel to the 
Sheriff of New York City. Prominent in law, and in politics 



324 NOTES 

also, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1886 and 
1891. He opposed the nomination of Mr. Cleveland for the 
Presidency; supported Mr. McKinley in 1896; but returned to 
the support of the Democratic party in 1900, when the issue 
was imperialism. 

THE ADDEESS. 

The occasion was the centennial anniversary of John Mar- 
shall's appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
the United States; the audience, the Erie County Bar Asso- 
ciation. As an example of a skilful selection of topics when 
the main question, amid a wealth of material, is what to omit, 
and on what few points to concentrate attention, this speech, 
after being outlined, should be compared with the topics taken 
up in chapters X and XI of Magruder's John Marshall 
(American Statesmen Series). The method of enumeration 
(see p. 27 of the Introduction) is freely employed on pp. 255- 
256. Note the long contrast (pp. 257-266). The four-fold 
division (p. 261) furnishes the groundwork of the discussion 
(p. 267). The discussion of the present importance of the 
judiciary, with special reference to an impending decision of 
momentous consequences (pp. 267-274), is followed by the 
closing section on the judiciary as the security for peace. 
The cases referred to (p. 270, 11. 3-8) are those known as 
"The Insular Cases," and are fully reported in 182 United 
States Eeports, 1 ; but a more manageable discussion of them 
is to be found in an address by Hon. Charles E. Littlefield 
before the American Bar Association at its Denver meeting, 
August 22, 1901. ''The Insular Cases" arose out of the acqui- 
sition of Porto Kico and the Philippines by the United States 
after the close of the Spanish-American war and the applica- 
tion to this new territory of the Foraker Act, a tariff measure 
which applied rates, in the case of this new territory, different 
from rates in force for the United States. The Supreme 
Court was divided on all of these cases. The whole political 
issue of ''imperialism" (as that term is employed in this 
country) was involved in these cases. These cases, in brief, 
decided that the term "United States" (at least so far as 
imposts and tariffs are concerned) does not include terri- 
tories or other possessions; that Congress may freely deter- 
mine when new territories are to be " incorporated ' ' into the 
Union, may create such forms of government as it sees fit for 
all regions that are outside of the limits of the States and 
owned by the United States, and may legislate differently, in its 
discretion, for different parts of the national domain outside 
of the States. 



NOTES 325 

JAMES BUEEILL ANGELL: PATEIOTISM AND 
INTEENATIONAL BEOTHEEHOOD 

THE SPEAKER. 

Dr. Angell was born in Ehode Island in 1829, was graduated 
at Brown University when twenty years of age, and became 
professor of modern languages and literatures there in 1853. 
During the civil war he was editor of the Providence Daily 
Journal. In 1866 he was appointed president of the University 
of Vermont, and in 1871 president of the University of Michi- 
gan. In 1908 he retired from the active presidency and was 
immediately chosen president emeritus. For many years he 
has been the acknowledged leader in state university educa- 
tion and one of the greatest in education generally. He is an 
authority on international law and diplomacy. He was Minister 
to China in 1880-1 and one of three commissioners to nego- 
tiate a new treaty with China, a member of the Commission 
on Canadian Fisheries in 1887, chairman of the Canadian- 
American commission on a deep waterway from the Great 
Lakes to the sea in 1896, and Minister to Turkey in 1897-8. 
He has been a regent of the Smithsonian Institution at 
Washington since 1887. 

THE ADDRESS. 

A baccalaureate address, delivered June 23, 1896, before the 
class about to be graduated from the University of Michigan, 
this discourse is especially remarkable for its foresight and 
timeliness. The Anglo-American Arbitration Treaty was signed 
at Washington, January 11, 1897. It provided for just such 
courts for the settlement of disputes between the United States 
and Great Britain, and for the same classes of cases as are 
named in 11. 20-33, p. 286. The sort of opposition which the 
treaty encountered in certain political quarters in this country 
is indicated on pp. 284-285. Although the intelligence of the 
country was overwhelmingly in favor of the treaty, the United 
States Senate failed to ratify it. The result was renewed 
discussion and final victory on a much larger scale than had 
been anticipated. The Hague Peace Conference assembled 
May 18, 1899. Its most important act was the creation of a 
permanent court of arbitration for the peaceable settlement 
of international disputes, and the first resort to this tribunal 
was made by the United States and Mexico in 1902. On the 
method of this address, see the Introduction, p. 24. Consider 
also the adaptation of the subject matter to the special 
audience addressed (especially pp. 288-290), and the sources of 
persuasion, as indicated on pp. 293, 295. 



Deacidjfied using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept 2009 

PreservationTechnolog _ 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATIOM | 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Onve 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 

(724) 779-2111 




